EXPENSIVE CEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18294, 10 January 1923, Page 9

EXPENSIVE CEMENT.

N.S. WALES CONTRACT.

MUCH ABOVE RULING PRICE.

GOVERNMENT IN DILEMMA.

[from ock own

SYDNEY. Jan. 3.

Suddenly, and, from the public point of view, quite unexpectedly, the cement position in this State has become one of the outstanding/questions of the day. The position is, briefly, that practically the whole of the cement required by the Government for use on works throughout the State is being bought at £5 8s per ton, when the market price is about £2 10s per ton. This on a £1,000,000 contract will cause, it is estimated, a loss to the Government, of somthing like £500,000.

Investigations into the contract, which was entered into by the last Government with the Commonwealth Portland. Cement Company, has brought to light some disquieting features. The Cabinet is having inquiries made to see precisely how far the State is committed in this bad bargain, and to determine whether the contract can be cancelled. It is pointed out that the arrangement was made- when cement was practically unprocurable, and ■when its price was fixed by law at £5 8s per ton. But the objectionable feature is that the terms tie up the State for many years to come to still buy at that figure. Consideration is now being given to a proposal which contemplates the formation of a company to co-operate with the Government to develop the Stateowned limestone deposits at/ Carlos Gap, near Mudgee, and to manufacture cement on an extensive scale.

The Government is certainly in a dilemma. .On the one hand, it is utterly opposed to State enterprises, and on the other it is equally opposed to anything that makes the cost of material to the consumer unfairly high.