BUILDING AT DUNEDIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 13, 15 July 1936, Page 7

BUILDING AT DUNEDIN

LABOUR SITUATION

A SHORTAGE OF MEN

| - -(By Telegraph.) <?. r (Special to the 'Evening ifpst.") : DUNEDIN, This Day. i According to several.archit'ects, building operations at' Dunedin .are- being hampered by a shortage of labour, arid uncertainty. regarding the -.; effect of legislation.- Officials 'of the "unions •concerned,. on the. other hand, deny that there- is any shortage' of; labour, and - state that there are members1 unemployed. - ■•■ ■■■■ ■•• - J . .: . It was also stated by an-authority that building costs have risen recently by about 20 per cent., and one architect : said there had been a definite restriction of tendering. Where he, would .receive under ordinary conditions'some fourteen tenders for work advertised, the average number of tenders received today was not more than eight. Recently he experienced a case in which he had to release a contractor from a written agreement to build a moderately-sized structure because of the contractor's inability to, obtain the necessary labour to execute the work. -This same contractor reports that during last month he was compelled •to turn down eight-jobs because he could not: procure labour. ■

': The decrease in tenders is not'confined to building, for associated .trades are concerned as well. There is a marked shortage of joiners, with the result that joinery factories are working to capacity. Fibrous plaster manufacturers are also being kept busy and timber mills are having difficulty in supplying certain types of wood.''

A large employer of labour says that conditions in.■ the painting trade are now busier than for'the past seven or eight years, and there is no need for any' qualified tradesman to be out of work..' Another, employer cited cases of two employers who had not done any manual wojrk for years having to take off their coats and work, as they could not get. men: