A PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 19, 22 January 1921, Page 5

A PROBLEM

RISING RENTS F6R SHOPS AND OFFICES

THE POSITION IN AUCKLAND.

(BY TBLCCRAI'H.—SPECIAL TO THE POST.) AUCKLAND, This Day.

Rising rents for shops and offices in Queen-street are becoming a problem to tenants. Already a proposal Has been, mooted that they should combine to' protect their interests. "Rents in Queenstreet !havo gone up from.fifty to one ■hundred per cent, recently," said one authority on the - wibject consulted. "There has 'been nothing like it in the history of the city, and there ■ia sure ,to be a reaction; but an the meantime business'suffers, for'the reason that shopkeepers obliged to ' pay high rents naturally 'put the rent on to the cost of their goodp, and the consumer has ' to •pay it ultimately. Again, brokers and others who occupy upstairs offices naturally take their increased rents into account when doing business, and hore again the vicious circle of high prices ia seen-" . .

Asked as to what was operating . to' bring about increased , rents, an estate agent pointed out that tho causes were easily outlined. "In the first place) of course," he said, "there is the shortage of office accommodation and of suitable shops. We have not been building them during the war. Then many of the existing buildings are out of date and inadequate, but they, cannot be replaced at present, for the simple reason that we cannot get supplies, and the cost of building is so high. Again—and this is important-I—many of the better and larger buildings are changmgs hands from time to time for the sake of the big. revenue' they bring in. Naturally, "before they are sold the vendors like to make-tlia revenues appear as large as possible, and so they put up the rents. They are bought on that showing, and when the new owners take over they r-atuT.iUy' incre%so the rents again, so as to safeguard their interests."

C&sas of abnormal increases were qu&tsd. One involved an increase of from £10 to £30' a week in the rend for a very ordinary shoy. A single room, obtainable oil leaso in a high-class of-^ iice building formerly for ±11 a, week, is now 30s, and likely to go higher, bhops rule/usually at £1 a front foot a week. These figures in many cases indicats an increase within a short period of 100 _to* lso per cent. There are some sites, it appeirs, where owners will build to suit tenants, but hpvs again the /building problem is the drawback. "I do not see why a Town Tenants' Association should , not be formed -to safeguard the interests of those who rent offices .and shops," said a member of,a legal firm whoso rent .has recently been heavily increased. "In the present state of things there seema to ba no end to the increase in rents'<hat may take place" for the nest five years. Ido wot sujri- , poso w-e can expect much relief through building, and unless we do something for ourselves as tenants I do not know [ where ■we shall find ourselves in the future. We have no objection to paying reasonable rents, but the- landlord, who is sometimes an absentee, by the way,,is undoubtedly mftking- his harvest out of I us just now. Seeing that the Legislature j has done so much for the owner of private houses to .keep rents within bounds, I fail to understand why, if pressure were brought to bear, it might not: [establish some authority which would look after the interests of the offica v and shop tenants in the ciUes of the Dominion." :'" Comparisons, with/ other cities were sought in this connection, but it' wag pointed out that these were difficult, a-s Queen-street as a. main thoroughfare held a unique position amongst 7 cities. It was difficult to develop a subsidiary street in Auckland for trade; "as had been done 'elsewhere. • : .

A complaint as to high vents Was made to the Auckland Prices Investigation Tribunal ■ yesterday. The tribunal has powers of investigating and recommendation, but there is some question as to the precise powers of the Board of Trade to order prosecutions where a case of the kind is held to be proved. • "Your house shortage is acute, dnd your building timber available is so short of demand that I have met builders in this town who tell me they are going out of business because of the impossibility of securing adequate-supplies. Yet there are millions upon millions of feeb of first-class Canadian lumber lying on,the Pacific Coast, and nothing really to prevent it irom getting here later than the tima it occupies the vessel in bringing it." Such was the opinion, expressed by Mr. T. A. L. Smith, a visitor from Victoria, British. Columbia, who has spent all his life in the Canadian lumber industry. Our visitor expresses a very lively astonishment that New builders should sit down and be starved for timber because local supplies wore inadequate. He declared that the Canadian timber would compare favourably with any building timber in New Zealand, .and added the opinion that it could.be improved-and sold here at a price very little in excess of the prices at present charged for native timber. The acutenass of the shortage hero would more than justify even higher rates than those at which Oregon pine could be imported. "In my opinion the main reason for so little of tliis.Canadian lumber coming here, apart from the shipping shortage, is the determination of the local timber merchants to utiliso the native . article exclusively," . said Mr. Smith. "There is no real reason for such a shortage of timber here as I can see exists. Even the". shipping excuse cannot now be used, as there are at present plenty of ships availablo on the Pacific Coast. Another block to the importer hero of Canadian timber seems to be the Canadian Lumberman's Association, which has combined for the purpose of keeping 'up the price of lumber, but I can assures you that there are } arge numbers of- mills riot connected with the Lumbermen's Association, from whom lumber could be bought under the list prices. This would mean a difference in> price landed here of anything between 8s and 20s ( per 1000 feet. Whaf is needed among New Zealand importers for advantageous economies in landing Canadian timber for (building purpos«4j|(ia combination, and the appointment ouSwpi agent on the spot. In the brief period I have been here I have heard' Auckland bulldfers expressing their intention of going out of the business unless supplies improve. To a man knowing of the enormous. amount of lumber lying ready for shipment on the Canadian Pacific Coast, such a condition of things is almost beyond belief. There is no sound reason that it should exist a moment longer than is necessary for a \essel to load and sail from Vancouver to Auckond," commented 1 Mr. Smi£h. .