MARKED DECLINE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18594, 3 January 1935, Page 6

MARKED DECLINE

BUILDING ACTIVITY

BOKO UGH STATIST ICS

DECREASE OF £15,622

Proving to he merely a flash in the pan, the very considerable increase in building activity . in the Gisborne Borough during 1933 was followed last year oy an almost equally marked decline in the trade. This is not surprising, however, in view of the fact that earthquake restoration work was lai’gely responsible for the fillip that was given to the trade in 1933. Practically all earthquake repair work was completed in that year, and as a result 1934 ended with a decrease of £15,522 in the value of work covered by building permits issued by the borough authorities. The year 1933 was one of the best recently for the building trade, and the total for that year did not fall very far short of that for 1930, the record year, the figures being £66,141 and £70,744 respectively, while that for 1932 was only £45,010. Last year, however, the total number of permits dropped from 226 in 1933 to 184, and the value of the work undertaken from £66,141 to £50,619.

On only one occasion dhl the monthly total exceed £IO,OOO, that being inf February, when the total value of work undertaken was £10,048. Earthquake restoration work undertaken by Messrs! Common, Shelton and Company, Limited, and the Cook Hospital Board accounted for over ,£5500 of that total. The best monthly total in 1933 was for August, when permits to the value of £14.85, wero issued.

In November permits to the value of £8505 were issued, the Cook Hospital Maternity Homo accounting for nearly £6OOO of that total. July’s permits totalled 12, to the value of £5755, and of Uiat amount the new Coronation block of shops and flats accounted for nearly £SOOO. The greatest number of permits issued in one month was fn October. Twenty-three permits were issued then, but apart from six new dwellings, the value of the work undertaken was small, 17 of the permits representing an aggregate expenditure of only £1479. AEonthJy totals, including permits for new dwellings, are set. out in the following table: —

The Unemployment Board’s scheme to assist the building tradesmen by means of a subsidy on dwellings helped largely to maintain this department of building activity, and probably accounted for the fact that there was an increase of four in the number and £1226 in the value of permits issued. The value of the permits for new dwellings fell short of the £20.000 irarlc by less than £7OO. In one month. October, six permits to the value of £4089 were issued, and in February six permits to the value of £3672 were taken out. In only one month, July, was there an absence of applications for permits for new dwellings. In comparison with 1932, the increase in the value of permits for new dwellings was ever 100 per cent., the figure for 1932 being only £9607, as. compared with £19,317 for the year just ended.

Monthly totals relative to dwellings are shown in the following table:—

1934. 1933. No. Tab No. Vai. £ £ January 12 1,451 15 5,326 February .. 20 10i04S 20 1,724 March IS 3,900 .10 3,832 April 3-1 1,717 16 3,237 May 17 3,197 17 4,315 Jane 15 1,397 24 .1,195 July 12 5,755 25 3,165 August 19 4,249 22 14,855 Septeni. 13 2,580 19 8,271 October 23 5,568 15 8,735 November.. 13 8.J105 26 8,890 December .. $ 2,446 8 .2,596 184 50,619 226 66,141

10 14. 10.13. No. VaJ. No. Val. £ £ .Tamili rv 3 1.205 1 2,047 February .. (5 3,672 1 730 March 1 600 4 1,607 April 1 OS 1 700 May 4 2,4.11 1 680 .Time » .106 1 42 July — — 4 o 220 August 2 1,000 3 2,020 September.. 4. 1,706 — — October 6 4,0S0 .1 1,762 November .. o 1,700 S 4,700 December .. .1 . 2,270 1 1,475 .14 10,117 .10 18,001