PLUMBING MATERIALS SCARCE

Chronicle (Levin), 11 May 1946, Page 6

PLUMBING MATERIALS SCARCE

DOMINXON-WIDE BITUATION. Kew Zealand is in the tliroes of yet anotker shortage in building materiais. Although it has previoiisly been stated that household baths'wcre unprocurabie ancl tliiit showers 'were being made to do in their place, further information has led to the announeenient by a' city vvarehouse that iixture washbasins and lavatory pans whieh were bcing made in Mngiand would not be available for sliipnient froni England for anotlier nine months, and that none could be expectcd "before .that tinie. This conies as U severo blovv to plmnbors and coutractors who liavc becn expcricncing diHiculty in socuring. tiic New Zealand artiele vvhicli they consider to be far below the irnported quality. The Dominion appears to be in i'or an even more severe ouilding matorial shortage litan has yet been experieneeij. Anotlier aunouncement of interest to ' plumbers is the fact that no more 2b guage iron is to be snpplied. The next size, 24, is considered far too hard to work in niaking into storage tanks and things of that type, and it reinains to iie seen how the tradesmen will manage. Downpipe is anotlier "article whicti is to be anotlier nine months before u.rders are fullilled from England. Complaints were reeeived i'roro plumbers yesterday regarding the quax ity of New Zealand-made fittings vvitn wliich they havc to contend. The stanclard of workmanship had declined con siderably, it was stated, liand basins being out of alignment and poorlv coloured. Lavatorv pans were so much oui of plumb that grooves had to be cut into the floor to allow them to sit squarely on the floor. Hot water cylinders leaked around the seam before being taken from the vvarehouses. A city plumber stated his position at the present tinie by saying: "The trade iw in a vvorse position at the moment thau it has been all through the war years, and it is liardly vvorth the candle tO 000^11116."