Timber products in tax law can include manufactured chir wood boxes when the entry is read in its commercial sense.

Boxes made from chir wood were treated as timber products for sales tax purposes because the notification used the broad expression "timber and their products," which, in context, extended beyond naturally produced items to goods manufactured from wood by human agency. Packing boxes assembled from chir wood planks and nails therefore fell within the taxing entry. The court applied the commercial or popular meaning of the term "products" in a fiscal provision, and the later amendment excluding furniture supported that broader construction. The question was answered in the affirmative, in favour of the Revenue.

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Issues: Whether boxes made of chir wood are timber products within the meaning of the relevant sales tax notifications.

Analysis: The notification used the expression "timber ... and their products" and, as amended, specifically included chir (pine) wood. The expression "products" was not confined to things produced naturally or by a natural process; it extended to things produced out of wood by work or operation. Packing boxes made by assembling planks of chir wood with nails were therefore products of chir wood. In fiscal interpretation, the word used in a taxing entry was to be understood in its commercial or popular sense, and the construction that limited "products" to natural growth would defeat the higher-rate levy on timber products. The subsequent amendment excluding furniture from the term "products" also supported the broader meaning of the word.

Conclusion: Boxes made of chir wood are products of timber, and the question was answered in the affirmative, in favour of the Revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: In a taxing entry, a product of timber includes goods manufactured from timber by human agency when the expression is used in a broad commercial sense and the context does not compel a restricted natural-growth meaning.

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