The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY, 26. 1916. CHEMTCAL-HARDWARE SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 January 1916, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY, 26. 1916. CHEMTCAL-HARDWARE SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR.

A Chronicle representative has" been hearing in Lev in wiuo l'acts not generally known about/ present wholesale prices ut medicines mid hardware. Hardware has risen high, fallen a little, risen again, fallen again (a little), ami risen high once more. Medicine prices hare gone up and up, quickly and euduringly, until several lilies have" gone right off the -market—through exhaustion of stock. One bottled line that could, be bought before the war at about ■'•1-js per dozen became unobtainable at any price, a few months ago, when the nominal price quoted was about '-<> per dozen. Quite a number oi the ordinary stock-in-trade articles of the chemist have risen in market value to the extent of 300, 400. and even <300 per cent! Dislocation of ordinary trade channels, added' to the further disabilities experienced in regard to the procurement of necessary chcmicals tor use in the purification processes oi manufacture, account for a great proportion of the rise in price, though here and there an element of speculation may have had its part in the increase. Even household remedies such as Epsom salts show a marked increase in wholesale price, consequent upon the dearness of the sulphuric acid used: in their purification process. God-liver oil' an article that will be rare nest ye*u\ and exceedingly high in price whenever obtainable." The reason liee in the fact that Germany has "cornered" the market by buying up the •whole of the output of the Norwegian fisheries for the season just ended, with the object of extracting from the oil a glycerine to be used in the manuTricture of explosives! In the hardware market, which experienced an easier tone in the end: wonfTis of 1015. a recrudescence ot "firming" is apparent. During the lairt two weeks a rise of £7 per ton has been put on fencing wire, which now is ..quoted at £28 per ton in Tkvm. Horbed wire has risen £7 per ton (to £32), nails £1 per lon (to £9), and galvanised iron £2 (to £37).