HALSWELL QUARRY

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24614, 10 July 1945, Page 3

HALSWELL QUARRY

| “PROFITS PRACTICALLY VANISHED ” INCREASED PRICES FIXED Purchased by the City Council in 1926, the Hals well Quarry, from which crushed stone was obtained, was so successful that the cost was paid off after about 10 years. Since 1942, the profits have practically vanished, the Works Committee reported to the City Council last evening, and in one year a loss, was recorded. The small profits existed only because materials were not available for proper maintenance and replacements. The financial change, reported the committee, could be attributed to the following:—reduced output; increase in wages; failure to mechanise to offset wage increase; increased material costs; changing demand; and the receding face of stone. The council adopted a recommendation from the committee that the price of all grades of Halswell metal be increased by Is a cubic yard and that a further Is be added to material delivered to Sumner or New Brighton. “This increase will not in itself rectify the financial position properly,” reported the committee, “but if the output is stepped up next year to 35,000 or 40,000 cubic yards, this may rectify the position. If costs continue to rise, a further increase will, of course, be necessary.’’ When the Halswell quarry was purchased, metal and screening prices for council purposes were fixed at approximately the ruling prices and had remained unaltered ever since, reported the committee The council took over the quarry on October 1, 1926. The original cost was just beyond £37,000, and the value of the stone was put at £19,778. The stone reserve was depreciated at the rate of Is a cubic yard, and until the cost was paid off the total annual depreciation averaged about £3OOO. The cost an hour of labourers’ wages had increased from 2s to 3s 2d an hour, and a further increase of wages was due, and the price of explosives, quarry gear and necessities of transport had practically doubled over the last 20 years. The reserve fund, most of which was earmarked for plant on order, stood at about £SOOO, and the proper way to get the necessary finance for replacement of plant and transport, the patching-up process of which could not be continued indefinitely, was to increase the price of the product. The rates for the various sizes of Halswell metal to the city compared with the association’s prices were:—2Jin and IJin, 7s 6d (11s); |in, 10s 6d (11s 6d); gin and Jin, 11s 6d (14s 6d); Jin, 11s 6d (18s). The committee reported that the association’s prices,. which had been in existence for a long period, were for delivery in the city, while Halswell prices were for delivery to all areas. Up to 4s more was charged for delivery to New Brighton and to Sumner. A table showed that in 1925-26 the output was 34,497 cubic yards, the profit being £4384. labourers’ wages being then Is lid an hour and statutory holidays paid. In 1931-32, 50,568 cubic yards were produced, the profit being £11,135; in 1939-40, the output was 38,268 cubic yards for a profit of £4477; and in 1944-45, the output was 24,563 cubic yards, for a profit of £3BB, labourers’ wages being equal to £5 11s lid a week.