HARD TIMES IN HARDWARE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 275, 9 August 1918, Page 4

HARD TIMES IN HARDWARE

HOW PRICES HAVE JUMPED. The fact that tho price of wire nails to retailers has been jumped <£5 per tun this week caused a Dominion reporter 10 make some inquiries into the condition of tho hardware trade- generally m »«- lin'gton (which .is a criterion for tho wholo of New Zealand as far as prices are concerned). Previous to tho war wire nails could be bought anywhere tor 2W. per lb., or 51b. for ls.-any size. One inch nails are now being sold at. hi. per lb.; 11-inch nails at Sd.; and 2-inch nails at 9d. per lb., which will servo to throw some light on tho largely-increased cost of building, and is a good and sullicient excuiie for economising on any job whero nails aro concerned. Tho prewar prico of g.c. (corrugated) roohni? iron was i! 18 per ion; now it is anything betwetm £80 and .£9O por ton. Its export from England and America has been prohibited except under special permit. Wire of all kinds is also on the prohibited list, aud is practically unprocurable. No fencing wire is procurable, and clothes-line wire is becoming a relic of a, previous age. Ordinary 2-inch mesh wire netting (commonly used in the construction or fowl-runs) was, prior to tho war, sold at 7s. (id. per roll of fifty yards. The price to-day for the samo article is about 3!)s. G'd. per roll. Rabbit netting, which has increased in about the samo proportion, js practically unprocurable at present. All too ! s have increased in price by from 300 to 400 per cent, and are difficult to obtain from England and American manufacturers. Ono littlo complicated engineer's tool, which was formerly sold for 155., now,costs 355. to land. ' Household hardware, such as pots and pans, have advanced in jirico quite 200 per cent., and enamel wave in about the 6ame' propbrtion. Primus stoves, favoured in the country and at sea-sido "baches," used to bo purveyed at from 12s. 6d. to 155., to-day the prico for a "Primus" is 3Ss. Go. Glasswaro and crocKery have advanced tremendously in prico.