COST OF BUILDING

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1436, 10 May 1912, Page 6

COST OF BUILDING

IS A FAIR DAY'S WORK DONE? AUCKLAND COMPLAINTS. (By Telegraph—Special Correspondent.) Auckland, 31ny 9. Complaint is general amongst building employers and architects alike that th'« cost of labour has increased not only through the greater amount of wage's paid, but also because the workers actually, do less for the greater wages than they did for the smaller. Various reasons are ns-igned for this alleged casing up. Some suggest that the worker no longer takes a pride in his work. Another theory is that the unification of wages is wholly to blame, since it offers no inducement lo an employee to try to do more or better work, and all the hands drop down to the jog trot standard of easy going, frequently called (he "Government stroke." 'The large amount of work available, and the existence of competition among tho employers for the available men is believed to have induced a Insures, as the men feel quite independent. They loavo work for small provocation, knowing that there is plenty more for (hem to do. The cost of materials has also greatly increased. Various authorities who were consulted described tho increase at from II) to lj per cent, in the past, two years. Bricks„-which cost 4os. lo 475. Oil. two years ago, are now quoted on tho lowest basis of Gls. Gd. per 1000. Certain classes of timber have risen from £!s. Gd. to t!7s. jrer 100 feet, while other kinds, as well as joinery, mouldings, etc., are much, dearer. The prices of cement and iime have been increased recently, and shingle costs 3s. a load-- more than formerly. Steel, which is used to a large extent in the construction of ferro-concreto buildings, has just lately been quoted at from about Xi to .£3 nor ton denrer. The views of architects substantially bear out- those of the builders. One member of the profession, a man who works much in designs for wooden bouses, said that at a rough assessment the cost of erecting dwellings had incrensed during the last five years by about 30 per cent. A rough estimate for a house was a few years ago frequently made on the basis of .CiOO a room. Now it was certainly as high as .6130 a room. Another wav of reaching the approximate cost of a house was to find its.volume in cubic leer, and estimate tho price at Bd. a cubic foot. A few years ago Die price would have been taken out at the rate of 13d. or fid. n font. The president of the General Labourers' Vuiiin OLr. V. Frascr) denied that tho workers do 10-s now than they u-ed to do. As a ruie ho said he believed ihal an employer could get nn more cut of his men if lie were able lo stand nv.-r Iheni all day and drive them. II mu-i be rocn'Jliised, however, that the woiking man, whatever Ihe nature nf his work, had now come to realise that it was legitimate for him to find other interests than liis dailv work. For others, even the navvy fell- that- the enjoyment of leisure, the appreciation of literature and art, and even music were not. neee-sarily prohibited to them,