Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Second part - VII. Forestry - 2. Forest Industries. By E. Arosenius, Ph. D., Royal Central Bureau of Statistics, Stockholm
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
FOREST INDUSTRIES.
635
2. FOREST INDUSTRIES.
At the remote period when the population of Sweden began to
enter into more lively commercial relations with other nations, it would
appear that the forest products already formed a considerable part of
Swedish export, although at first the demand mostly comprised other
forest-products than those which are now the most important.
From various documents of the Middle Ages we find that furs and hides of
different game of the forests (elk or moose, deer, etc.) were in great demand as
articles of commerce, which were bought in the Swedish ports by foreign traders.
From Sweden the Hanseatlc cities, which at the close of the Middle Ages
commanded the commerce and navigation of Northern Europe, took their requisite
rapplies of pitch, tar, masts, and spars, as well as, to a certain extent, of
firewood, deals, and boards. The boards exported went by the name of hewn boards,
i. e., not having been sawn, but hewn by axe direct from the log.
In the beginning of modern times the Dutch inherited the commercial
supremacy of the Hanseatic cities in the North, and also became the principal
purchasers of Swedish timber. As they were in need of much timber for their great
commercial and naval fleets as well as for dams, piles for building purposes, etc.,
which could not be obtained in their country, so poor in forests, the Swedish
export of timber to Holland became very extensive for those times. The timber
shipped consisted principally of masts, spars, and balks, hewn by hand, and logs,
which were in Holland afterwards sawn in the wind saw-mills, so numerous there. —
Daring the eighteenth century, the position at the head of the world’s commerce
»ad navigation passed from Holland to England, which country, for nearly the
same reasons as Holland, found it necessary to import timber.
In order to give an idea of the extent of the Swedish timber trade at the
beginning of the nineteenth century, it may be mentioned that in the year 1809
Sweden exported about 220,000 dozen boards and deals, about two thirds of
which went to England. The whole timber export was then estimated at a value
of 5.488,000 kronor, which equaled one seventh of the total export of the
kingdom at that time.
During the Napoleon wars, the development of the timber trade underwent
a change. This was effected in England by the introduction in 1809 — chiefly
M a retaliatory measure against Napoleon’s system of isolation — of a very
considerable increase of the former import-duties on timber from the Continent, which
increase was further raised the following year and rose once more in 1813, so
"ut the import-duty per load thus finally amounted to 3 £ 5 shillings. These
rastom-duties had all the greater effect on the European exports to England, as
« the same time only an inconsiderable duty was paid on the timber imported
from British North America. Consequently commerce between Sweden and England
Peatly declined. After the termination of these wars, the English custom-duties
« timber were certainly lowered in 1821 to 2 £ 15 s. per load, while at the
same time a duty of 10 s. was imposed upon American timber. The difference
»as, however, still large enough almost entirely to exclude European timber from
English ports. It is even said to have happened that such timber would first be
transported across the Atlantic and afterwards, benefiting by the said privilege as
w duty, be at last returned to some English port. The possibility of any direct
importation of Swedish timber taking place, depended alone on the fact that the
’»tter was more highly valued than the American product.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
