RISE IN PRICE OF STEEL

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22306, 21 January 1938, Page 12

RISE IN PRICE OF STEEL

I ! EFFECT ON BUILDING I COSTS MR ANDREW FLETCHER'S OPINIONS | (rUF.SS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) I I WELLINGTON, January 20. The opinion that there would be no I marked rise in building construction j costs in New Zealand because of the I recent increase in wholesale mill steel prices in Australia of from 5s to 20s a ton was expressed by Mr Andrew Fletcher, a director of the Fletcher j Construction Company, Ltd., in an interview to-day, when asked to comment on the situation. Mr Fletcher emphasised that the problem in New Zealand was not the cost of Australian steel; but the difficulty of getting adequate supplies. The next rolling of rounds in Australia was scheduled to start in March, and would not be completed at the end of June. Rolling after that would commence about October. "It seems that there is g,oing to be quite a shortage of steel, and New Zealand will probably have to go elsewhere, perhaps to Canada, to keep going," Mr Fletcher said. The English price was still at least 50 per cent, higher than the Australian price. Mr Fletcher said the industry in Australia was so busy that it was not able to overtake the business that was offering. He did not think there was the slightest doubt that Australia was giving New Zealand a very fair proportion of steel from the Broken Hill Proprietary Company's works in comparison with the population of the Dominion. The rise in steel prices was the first the Broken Hill Proprietary Company had made since the depression days.