THE BUILDING TRADE

Opunake Times, 22 October 1935, Page 3

THE BUILDING TRADE

INCREASED ACTIVITY DEMAND FOR CEMENT

The increased activity in the building trade is one of the most encouraging signs of returning prosperity. The Abstract of Statis tics shows that already this year in the larger towns of the Dominion, permits have been issued for the erection of 1829 dwellings with an aggregate value of £l,409,703, When to these figures have been added the houses in course of erection in the country districts and the smaller centres the total mus represent a welcome addition to the number of houses and the expenditure of a very large sum. In the first eight months of the current year build ing permits in the larger towns were valued at £2,790,9-17, representing an average of about £-‘l5O 000 monthhly, and fortunately, the trend is in an upward direction.

The results of this renewed activity are apparent in many quarters, for building is a basic trade and when it is flourishing many subsidiary industries are at once benefited. For one thing the quantity of timber passing over the railway lines has grown steadily, while sawmills, that make a good demand on the labour market, have resumed or extended operations. It is necessary to maintain stocks and this means work for a large number of men. The best indication of the effect of more active building on the brick-making industry is afforded by the market price for

the shares of leading companies. Hash and door factoreis have been able to employ more labour, there is a better demand for cement, and the import trade in items not produced locally widens tlie market for business firms, creating more work on the waterfront and in the many forms of tiansport. The years of depression saw building reduced to a minimum, and that rendered much fkilled labour idle. It has been a difficult problem to provide for h~se men, and the purely temporary wc rk found by local bodies and oilers has not been economice because( only to a very limited extent, could it utilise their training and efficiency. That is one of the most pleasing aspects of tac revived activity in the ouilding trade. It has enabled skilled men to resume work in occupations for which they were fitted and so give the best economic return. The assistance provided by tbc Unemployment Board has been a factor, but a close analysis of the position should enable those responsible to devise other methods for the encouragement of building. There is said to he a shortage of houses in most centres in the Dominion and the greater it is the wider the scope for a sound policy designed to extend building operations.