DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 August 1925, Page 3

DOMINION ITEMS.

BY TELEGRAPH —P3EBS ASSN., COPYRIGHT. MOTOR TYRES. A SUBSTANTIAL PRICE. AUCKLAND, .July 31. A general increase in tbe price of motor-vehicle tyres took place this week; The advance amounts to 20 per cent for ordinary pneumatic tyres and ha 111 tyres, 20 per cent for inner tubes, and 13 per cent for solid tyres for motor-trucks. The advances follow the series of price increases in the United States, imposed as a result oi soaring values for raw rubber and the tightening of the cotton market. Raw rubber, onoted on the London market at IUI I I in .lime last year, is Mow priced at Is (id. The phenomenal increase is attributed to tile strong Continental demand, which still shows no sign of weakening. The new quotations for tyres in New Zealand affect practically every make, including American. I rench and Belgian. New price lists have been issued by Dominion agents, and these show that ordinary thirty-inch by three and a half inches high pressure cord tyres have increased Iron! C 3 13s Hil to C t Ms fid or Cl 13s. Approximately 73 per cellt of the motor tyre consists ot rubber, while the inner tube is all rubber, save, of course, for the valve fitting.

Eighty per cent of the world’s rubber output i-, used by the motor industry. Each year the proportion shows a slight increase, and an American authority on rubber predicts that unless arrangements are made to increase the world’s simply there will be insufficient raw material in 11)31 to supply the motor market. 'file likelihood of car prices in New Zealand advancing in sympathy is oxtromelv remote. Indeed, there is a probability of a general reduction in the price ol cisdann models. Sub--taniinl reductions, ranging Irom M 3 lo CI3. have already been made with respect to lour leading American ears, and the possibility ol other makes showing similar reductions is being freely discussed ill tile local trade. Competition, in fact, is so keen that action by one group of makers is aU most hound to react sympathetically on others. A FIRE. iNAI’fER, August I. A seven-roomed house was totally destroyed by tire this morning at Korkipo. The family were at breakfast and had only time to escape.