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Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19161, 18 November 1927, Page 12

CEMENT FOR STREETS. IMPORTED V. NEW ZEALAND, QUESTION OF COST. Observations made by the City Engineer (Mr A. R. Galuraith) concerning the relative cost of New Zealand and imported cement for road-making) which appeared in The Phess of October 19th, were brought under the notice of 3ir Wilson (N.Z.), Portland Cement Company, by Mr J. W. Collins, , secretary of Industries and Commerce. Mr S. Reid, general manager of the company, commented at some length on Ms Galbraith's statement, ana .1 copy of his letter was forwarded by Mr Collins to the- Mayor (Mr J. K. I Archer;, so that the company's repre- '. eentations may receive the considera- j tion they deserve if and when the City ! Council decides on its road policy. j Possible Concession. Mr lloid, in his letter, states that Mr Galbraith is quite correct in saying that the lowest quotation he could obtain for New Zealand cement was £0 per ton, but he (Mr Heid) would not cay that this actually would be charged if it is really intended to lay down certain streets in Christchurch in concrete, and to call tenders for the work. It was not desirable to quote a reduction in price for a job that might, or might not be, carried out. Had a reduced price been quoted and such fact became known, the company's clients in other parts of the Dominion at once would have become disturbed. "In the case of the Auckland City Council, where a definite reading policy was laid down, and was adopted , by the ratepayers, the Council asked for a concession in cement, and we made an allowance on all cement used Bolely m the formation of concrete roads. If it is proposed that concrete roads shall be laid m Christchurch, although possibly not in the same form as laid down in Auckland, we think it likely that some concession would be made." Difference in Price. i "It is noted that Mr Galbraith quotes the price of English cement, and although he probably had no intention of comparing the export (or 'dumping') price of £2 6s per ton as against our delivered price of, approximately, £6 per ton, it may be wondered why there is such a difference between the two pri«:es." One reason, Mr Reid says, is that New Zealand cement will always cost more to manufacture so long as the rates of wages are so much above those paid to English workmen: in addition, many raw materials (coal, jute, gypsum, etc.) necessarily cost much more than in England. Taking Mr Galbraith's price for English cement at £2 6s, Mr Reid showed that its cost, c.i.f., ship's slings, with duty and primage, main ports New Zealand, would be £5 7s Id; freight being estimated at £2 per ton. Other charges, exchange, landing and storage charges would have to be added. In the case of Christchurch, the cement would cost lis per ton for railage from Lyttelton, and cartage to the job .in the City—this without the addition of exchange, landing, and • storage charges. Public bodies, including the Public Works Department and Har- ' bour Boards, estimate that cement in casks costs from 2s to 5s per ton more lo handle than in sacks. Owing to an accident at their works the company imported 2000 tons of English cement this year. The price was higher than tho £2 6s quoted by Mr Galbraith. In competition in Wellington and Christchurch with its own brand of cement, the company lost £2309 on the transaction. Mr Galbraith's Eeply. . -,7*® Mayor, in acknowledging Mr Colhns's letter, included Mr Galbraith's reply as follows: The price quoted by me is not the dumping one, but the ordinary market price ruling for ah consumers of -10 ton parcels of cement, and offered, x railway, London goods yards. 'The estimated cost of English cement delivered mam ports New Zealand, and on jobs, New Zealand, as stated by Mr tteid, is, in my opinion, 10 to 15 per cent, too high, and for large quantities ,t is quite likely that special steamers could be chartered at reduced ireighte, say about 30s per ton, or post V°V-\ Concr 4t« «»&, as stated structed of all New Zealand materials, £* "& hand ! cn PP«d by the excessive S2V /r to °. for Now Zealan «* cement delivered on the jobs, a cost SfaT fcT u^V D - ? tller hr & seaboard &ZXZT n _^ md other p° rts APPLE TRADE. EFFECT OF ARSENIC SCARE. (xneTEALUK AXD K . z AND 8U „ cmßj ' ; LONDON. November 16 *MtJJP°*"l g ?! markin <S of foreign apples •a tending to delay and loss, Mr Walter &nT£? d ' ° D beh ?i f of «■» Federation of Fruit Salesmen, incidentally mentioned the if?,V rO?S e S eeta .°? the arsenic «"e? from 125o!oOO n ° Pmlon Hsh houses lost EXCHANGE ON NEW YORK. STERLING HIGHEST SINCE 1914. NEW YORK, November 16. •7 , 8 ,/° u n? "f" 1 '"? has reached 4.dollars 6/ d-lo cents, the highest since 1914. Financial circles regard the rise as being partly due to the Commerce departments recent calculation on the United States vftible and invisible international payments for 1926, which made the year's net credit to the United States on all accounts, except the flow of capital only 13,000,000 dollars, though this is regarded as more than offset by the 522,000,000 dollars net export investment capital from America. Authorities declare that despite the latest risa sterling is still far from the point where ft would pay Americans to ship gold in preference to purchasing sterling bills. RECORD FOR NEW YORK EXCHANGE. NEW YORK, November 16. A new record was reached with the sale of • Stock Exchange membership for 300,000 dollars. WHEAT. NEW YORK, November 10. Chicago wheat quotations are: —December, 127] cents a bushel; March 1311 cents; Hay, 184{ cents. CALCUTTA TEA SALES. (Received November 17th, 9.15 p.m.) CALCUTTA, November 17. At the tea sales yesterday the demand was leaf keen except for good liquoring ■ sorts, vhleh maintained the previous week's values. Poor and medium descriptions declined 3 pies, while dusts advanced 1 to 2 annas. The **•***• prices were: Common Pekoe Sonchong 18 annaa 6 pies to 13 annas 9 pies; clean common broken Pekoe Souchong, 14 annas 6 V** to 14 annas 9 pies; even black leaf I Tikot, 14 annas 6 pies to 15 annas,