made of European alder or similar woods, often tinted to imitate cedar. The Belgian practice in cigar-box manufacture is to make the boxes not from plywood but from wood cut into thin veneer. Under present circumstances it is doubtful whether American cigarbox stock can compete, which is regrettable because the volume of business is attractive.

Belgium is not a wine producer, hence the demand for staves is chiefly limited to beer and spirit barrels. At present almost the entire supply comes from Poland and other European sources. There is also a small demand for staves for chemical products, etc., but on the whole Belgium is not an important market for cooperage.

TEXTILE INDUSTRY 4

Shuttle blocks comprise the lumber requirement of the Belgian textile industry of chief interest to American exporters. Ghent is the principal textile center, manufacturing linens and cotton goods. This Ghent industry probably consumes in the neighborhood of 200,000 shuttles per year. Finished shuttles have in the past been largely imported from England, France, and Italy. At present, however, imported shuttles do not amount to more than 10 per cent of the total consumption, the balance being manufactured locally from shuttle blocks bought from British firms, the usual material being American dogwood and persimmon. The principal advantage to the Belgian shuttle-block importer in dealing with British firms lies in prompt delivery regardless of the size of the order.

Dogwood and persimmon logs are seldom taken, the Belgian manufacturers preferring to purchase blocks.

There are only half a dozen shuttle manufacturers in the Ghent district, each producing from 15,000 to 50,000 shuttles per year.

MISCELLANEOUS USERS

American telephone, telegraph, and electric-light poles are not used in Belgium, poles being taken from northern and central Europe. In some cases concrete poles are used.

Belgian roads and streets are, as a rule, paved with cobblestones. Lately some of the principal streets of some cities have been surfaced with cement. Wood-block paving is seldom seen in Belgium, and will not likely be considered.

BELGIAN CUSTOMS TARIFF

The new customs tariff which went into effect November 10, 1924, has the following main items covering lumber and lumber products (cubic meter=35.314 cubic feet; millimeter=0.03937 inch; centimeter=0.3937 inch; meter=39.37 inches; kilo=2.2046 pounds):

Round logs for construction and cabinet work____ -per cubic meter__
Pitprops, poles, etc., less than 75 centimeters at large end_--_--__do_.
Pulpwood

Firewood---.

Sawed lumber 15 centimeters and thicker, also including hewn lumber_.

Francs 3.00

3.00

Free.

Free.

--per cubic meter.

15.00

Lath and wood in splints less than 1 centimeter thick for buckets, sieves, strainers, etc---

3.00

Wood cut into pieces or chips for the bucket trade or the manufacture of boxes.

Staves and wheel stock, split or hewn_.

__do____ 3.00 __do____ 1.20

_do____ 120. 00 2.50

__do____ 40.00

Split or sawed lumber for the manufacture of matches or blinds__do____ Cigar-box shooks, stained or not, printed or branded or not, ready cut Boxes, knocked down or assembled, without paint or stain, including box shooks less than 1.25 meters in length and 25 millimeters in thick____do____ 12.00

ness -

Casks, vats, and tubs, knocked down or not, including finished staves of oak, new

15.00

All other woods, new.

6.00

Doors, window frames, and other millwork, including flooring, of hardwood or partly of hardwood___

_do____ 70. 00

Doors, window frames, and other millwork, including flooring, of soft-
Wood

_do_-_- 43. 75

Doors, window frames, and other millwork, including flooring, painted, varnished, or lacquered---

Doors, window frames, and other millwork, including flooring, decorated with marquetry work, carved, etc__

__do____ 120.00

_do___ 225. 00

APPENDIX

In the tables which follow are given, first, Belgium's imports of
lumber and the principal classes of wood manufactures during 1913,
1923, and the first 10 months of 1924 as disclosed by its official
customs records, and, second, American participation in that trade
as shown by United States export returns. The adoption by Bel-
gium on November 10, 1924, of a new statistical classification of
wood products has made comparison of the imports since that date
with earlier receipts impracticable. These later figures appear in
a separate table.

BELGIAN STATISTICS

IMPORTS OF LUMBER INTO BELGIUM, 1913, 1923, AND 10 MONTHS OF 1924

Source: Annual Statistics of Foreign Trade of Belgium for 1913 and 1923; Monthly Statistics (preliminary)

for 1924.

1 Converted from Belgium francs at the rate of $0.193 (par) for 1913, $0.0522 for 1923, and $0.04644 for 1924.
1 Quantities in board feet are all computed at the rate of 12 board feet to the cubic foot.

IMPORTS OF LUMBER INTO BELGIUM, 1913, 1923, AND 10 MONTHS OF 1924-Contd.

IMPORTS OF LUMBER INTO BELGIUM, 1913, 1923, AND 10 MONTHS OF 1924-Contd.