asked the President of the Board of Trade how the average price respectively, of pitwood and of sawn fir timber imported into this country from Germany, compares with the permitted maximum price of home-grown pitwood or timber ex a country mill.

The maximum free-on-truck price provided by order for home-grown pitwood is on the average some 20 per cent. higher than the f.o.b. price of the last pitwood bought from Germany. Sawn fir timber imported from Germany must conform to certain specifications which do not apply to homegrown softwood. But if the price of homegrown softwood ex a country mill were adjusted to make allowance for these specifications, it would be roughly the same as the f.o.b. cost of the German imports.