BRICKS AND TIMBER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17339, 10 December 1919, Page 9

BRICKS AND TIMBER.

CHRISTCHURCH SHORTAGE. SUPPLIES UNPROCURABLE. [BT TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] CHEISTCHURCH. Tuesday. A decided shortage of bricks and timber exists in the city at present. In the ordinary course of building operations about 50,000 bricks a day would be used in the city, but the output of the kilns in and j near Christchurch, on which builders depend for supplies, is only about 12,000 to I 14,000 a day. As the demand for construction is an increasing one, the position is likely to become worse. i Already in the case of large buildings, ! and even in respect of houses, work has ' been delayed for two or three months for lack of bricks. Many speculative builders are using second-hand bricks for chimneys where they can be covered by the binding. i It is stated to be almost impossible to obtain dry timber, while merchants' stocks are much depleted where other kinds are concerned. The shortage in the latter is almost certain to mean that the interior work in some of the houses now being built. will suffer. So scarce are ordinary building timbers that at least two sawmills near Christchurch are putting poplar, willow, macrocarpa, pinus insigms, and gums through the cutting machinery. There is a ready demand for this timber at 16s to 20s per j 100 ft.