BUILDING MATERIAL

Evening Star, Issue 25730, 1 March 1946, Page 10

BUILDING MATERIAL

SHORTAGE HAMPERING HOUSING PROGRAMMES LONGER WEEK'S. WORK URGED (P.A.)' NEW PLYMOUTH, Feb. 28. With the object of increasing tlie volume of "material and essential building requirements, the New Zealand Federated Builders and Contractors' Industrial Association of Employers today adopted a motion, for submission to the Ministers of Labour, Supply, and Rehabilitation, urging that all hours of work be-increased in both the sawmilling industry and in industries manufacturing building supplies. More timber and more supplies, the motion stated, were urgently required to ex-pedite-the" building of homes for the general public and for ex-servicemen. The conference expressed itself as being fully alive to the pressing need of houses in urban and rural areas, and affirmed its determination to take all possible steps likely to accelerate home building. The attention of the Forestry Department will be'drawn to the serious shortage of. scantling timber. With a view to overcoming this difficulty, the department will be urged to review the system, of classifying timber, having in mind the desirability of more expeditious housing construction. Other motions adopted included a strong recommendation, to the Government to remove all the restrictions at present imposed on persons or firms who wish to engage in business on their own account.