BUILDING PROBLEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18342, 7 March 1923, Page 11

BUILDING PROBLEMS.

LACK OF SKILLED WORKERS.

HIGH WAGES RULING.

TIMBER PRICES RISING.

That there is a marked dearth of skilled men in the building trade at present is admitted on all hands. Particularly does this apply to carpenters, bricklayers, and plasterers. The labour shortage is said to be due to the fact that, with the fall in prices of material some months ago, there was an indication of a ru3h of building orders, and I to-day with the industry fairly active, there are not enough men to cope with the volume of work on hand. " You cannot procure carpenters now," said an Auckland architect yesterday. As an illus-; tration of the position of affairs he cited the case of a church at Epsom, an addition to which is being carried out by the vestrymen themselves. Naturally, where the supply falls so | far behind the demand, men are able to secure wages in excess of the award rates.' The existing award rate for carpenters is 2s per hour, and l£d bonus. As a matter of fact, in many places the men i are receiving from 2s 9d to 3s per hour, i In the case of bricklayers the award speci-1 fies a wage, including bonus, of 2s sjd per ' hour, but, like the carpenters, the wages ! received in many places range from 2s 9d j to 3s per hour. Not Delaying Building Work. Th. view was expressed yesterday that! this dearth of skilled men is not delaying i building operations to any great extent. People are hoping that prices will come down. As & matter of fact, they are higher now than «ix months ago. In I cement there has been a slight drop in price, but on the other hand, timber has, gene up. j The decline which was so noticeable about nine months ago has been recovered, and to-day prices are still tending up-1 wards. This, it is suggested, may Lei considered really a healthy sign, indicating progress, but that is poor consolation to a man who wants to build a house; he, least of all, is likely to gain j any satisfaction from the/ suggestion that failing prices for building are an indicatio of quiet times. There is also a pronounced dearth of skilled stonemasons. Just at present this is a factor which is causing some trouble in connection with the expeditious carry- j ing out of the work at the new Auckland! University College Art* building in Princes Street. There is work there fori a good number of additional men. In fact, ! the contractors could guarantee a full two years of employment to skilled stone workers. The Else is Timber Prices. The cause of this lack of stone workers is not far to seek. During recent times there has been so little stone building carried out in Auckland that the men have gone away to districts where there j is more promise of employment, or else they have taken up other occupations. ' The last big stone jobs carried out in Auckland were the post office and Town Hall. Now, however, there is the Arts Building, while the new War Memorial j Museum to be erected in the Domain j will no doubt add to the demand for skilled stone workers. If; is generally conceded that there are openings in the Dominion for good skilled carpenters, bricklayers, and stone workers. But one minor difficulty is that carperters who come out from England are generally brought up as specialists. One man, for example, wall specialise on doors, and another on sashes. Here a man needs to be alia to turn his hand to each and ' every class of wood work. Practically he I has to be able to undertake any phase of! work in ordinary wooden house construction, and it takes the immigrant carpenter I a little time to turn himself into an allround wood worker. The rise in timber prices is largely due to the fact that native supplies are being worked out. Kauri, it hardly need be said, is one of the finest timbers in the world, but it is getting very scarce. That means falling back upon rimu and matai, now so largely used for weather-boarding, | because of the high price of kauri. Heart j of totara is now practically the same price I as kauri. In some of the outer districts j pinus insignis is being used. As to the durability of this timber it can only be j said that it is largely a matter of the con- j ditions to which it is exposed.