BUILDING BRISKER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21763, 31 March 1934, Page 13

BUILDING BRISKER

ACTIVITY IX THE CITY j . HIGH FIGURES FOR MARCH j BEST FOR NEARLY FOUR YEARS Building permits to the value -of £"92.349. xhe niche?: monthly total since August. l'ftX*. wore issued by the Auckland City Council during March. The new block at the Mater Miseri-r-oroiae Hospital accounted for about £60.000 of the total, but several other works of considerable magnitude were inaugurated during the month. The figures indicate a gradual improvement in the building trade, which has been "in the doldrums" for the pasi four years. Probably no other trade was so severely affected by the depression, and the revival now evident is regarded as indicative of an improvement in general trr.de. In the following table the value of building permits in the city for the first quarter of the past three years is compared:— 19.54 ISS3 IStt-2 January .. .£63,30.1 £15,93S £H,S!3 February . . 23.-259 T.TSS f _fiss March . . . . 32.3*9 IS.Sft? 29.431 £37«,CS»S £42,031 Mi.TSW The significance of the figures recorded this month is shown by the fact that the highest monthly total last year was £46.553 in June, an amount already twice exceeded this year. The highest figures in 1932 were £'"7.351 in July, and in 1931 £34.375 in February. The value of permits issued in August. IP3O, was £101.830, and this month's figures are the highest since then.

Apart from the hospital contract, permits were issued in March for tearooms. a branch bank, a factory, substantial additions to a factory, a block of shops, and a grandstand at Carlaw Park.

Permits for the erection of nine dwellings were included in this month's figures, compared with 10 last March. However, for the quarter, the house permits totalled 41. compared with 22 in the March quarter. 19:13, and 19 in the March quarter, 1932. -»