SLOWER TEMPO

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22198, 7 December 1946, Page 6

SLOWER TEMPO

- BUILDING TRADE DEMAND FOR TIMBER SHIPMENTS TRICKLE IN “Timber merchants have less trouble keeping up with the demand for building timber than they did two or three months ago, but it is not because timber is much more plentiful. Sliortages in other requirements seem to have slowed up the tempo of the industry in Gisborne for the time being," staled a representative merchant to-day.

Only a few weeks ago the building trade operators were facing a crisis for •lack of timber. They went to the length of informing the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet that unless additional allocations were available the trade would run to a standstill within a fortnight or three weeks. To-day the trade is still working, but it is building houses at a slower rate, and timber is not the prime shortage.

Under the allocation made by the timber controller and confirmed by the responsible Minister, the Gisborne district was to receive 250,000 board feet of timber per month, including the local production estimated at 140,000 board feet per month. The West Coast of the South Island was to contribute 40.000 ft., and the Main Trunk milling district a further 70,000 ft. per month, under the quota system. Two West Coast Shipments

Neither of these sources has yielded the quantities of timber for this district assigned by the quota. Shipping difficulties have held the West Coast contribution to two shipments in the past six months, totalling perhaps 80,000 board feet; and though some timber is coming from the Main Trunk area, its volume is described by merchants as only a trickle. A certain amount of timber is being nrocurcd through departmental channels for the use of the building trainees under the rehabilitation scheme, and this comes into account in the general pool, since it takes the demand off the Gisborne yards. A substantial amount of pinus for scantlings has come from the Rotorua district to keep the trainees busy on their housing contracts, but merchants have no means, of assessing the actual volume of these importations. For the private building contractor, the supnly position has not changed much. The Main Trunk consignments are of a general character, with only a small proportion of finishing materials, and they are being mopped up as quickly as they arrive. Many home-builders are seeking supplies on their own account, and a lot of timber is being cut in this district from trees felled on farms and sawn under contract by a local mill.

Roofing materials and also wallboard are among the more acutely-short items of general building requirements. The difficulty of obtaining many items other than timber is holding up some contracts, and slowing others down. The effect is felt in the movement of timber into building use, and the limited supplies now available are just about balancing the demand.