PRICES RISING.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18399, 4 June 1925, Page 8

PRICES RISING.

DEARER MOTOR TYRES.

(SPECIAL TO "THE PRESS.")

AUCKLAND; June 3

Owing to the soaring values for r,w rubber and tho firming tendency of cotton, the price for motor (vehicle tvrcs have increased from 10 to 20 pel" cent, in the United States, and a similar rise may be expectedl to affect New Zealand prices "within a very short time. A number of Auckland agents already have been refused cabled orders at current prices and liavo been obliged to accept the new lists issued by tho American makers. For ordinary 30in by 3Jin cord tyres, the increase amounts to 10 per cent., according to advices received by certain local agents, and the increase may bo expected to..operate as soon as the new shipments are delivered. The current price of stock high pressure motor-car tyre in New, Zealand is £3 18s 9d (best grade), this being the universal fate quoted for a, hali-dozen. of the leading American makes. Raw rubber was quoted on the Londoh market last June at about IOJd a lb. To-, duy it is quoted at from 31-jd to 26d, representing an increase varying frotti 150 to 200 per cent. The cause is attributed largely to the strong European demand, which still shows no signs of weakening. A strong counteracting influence is at work among American j tyre manufacturers in tho form of a price'-cutting war unprecedented in tho history of the trade. In 1920 tho 30in by 3Jin cord tyre was priced a.t about £5 10s under the spur of the "tyre war" however, prieos were reduced to £2 10s and £3 15s, according to make aiid quality. In •spite of the imposition in- New Zealand of a 25 per. cant, tax on., foreign tyres in March of this year, there was » general readjustment of the retail prices, the lists issued by a host of makers bearing remarkably uniform prices. The best grade tyre of the ela;ss referred to is now quoted at £3 ISs -9d. It is admitted by local agents I and' users generally that the "tyre j war" has not been conducive- to a high j standard of quality and a, marked difference in wearing attributes is pointed out by the discerning. It is evident that less substantial work is being put into many of the makes in an effort to koep working costs within tho small margin allowed by a forced scale of lot? 1 prices. In fact, talk of bankruptcy j among some of the smaller makers &pI pears to be rife in the American trade.