WHO MAKES THE PROFIT?

Taranaki Daily News, 20 February 1920, Page 7

WHO MAKES THE PROFIT?

PACTS ABOUT BUILDING TRADE. | "FIND A SHACK AND LIVE IN IT." | In these days of the profiteer and his price the family man has much to be thankful for if he has a roof for his head and a crust for his mouth —that is the every day homo who toils for a salary by the sweat of his brow or by working "his brain. And between bursts of paying the butcher, the baker, and the landlord the harassed father and mother ask the eternal question, "Who makes the profit?" This is greeted by a chorus of disclaimers from purveyors of wares. Why the soaring price of houses ? Part of the answer is simple enough—the demand is bigger than the supply. But that does not complete the answer. A well-known Main Trunk builder, chatting to a Manawatu Times' reporter the other day, gave hini a few interesting facts about building. He said in effect that unless a builder was prepared to go beyond what he considered a fair profit before the war, there was really nothing in the trade. He stated that a great number of builders had followed the line of least resistance and had become profiteers. Carpenters, with the great demand for their labor, hail followed the lead of their bosses, and become profiteers also. "It costs," he said, ''one hundred per cent, more to build a house now than it did before the war on the score of labor alone. The increase is made up in this way. Carpenters' •wages have gone up 50 per cent, and the men, realising that their is a great demand for their labor and plenty of jobs, do 50 per cent, less work. I can prove that last statement by actual measurement on jobs. A builder cannot prepare estimates with any certainty of profit for himself unless he profiteers. My income during the last three years has been less than ever before. The uncertainty in making an estimate is caused by the fluctuations in price in all building materials. One cannot say from one day to another what the price of building requisites will be. White pine could be landed on the trucks here (a town on the Main Trunk), before the war at from 5s 6d to 6s per 100 ft. It would now cost 23s Cd. There may be some cause for that price because of the butter industry's demand for it for butter boxes. Heart totara could be bought six years ngo at £). per 100 ft., and is now practically unprocurable at (nominally) 05b t.o 60s. Matai is being substituted, and the substitute is green at that. Roofing iron soared from £lB a ton to £IOO, went down to £SO, and back to £GS. Cement rose from 3s Od to 7s a bag. Before the war we could procure good door locks at 27s Cd a dozen. These are unprocurable now at i)os, and an inferior line is offered at SOs. Glass is from 250 to 300 per cent, dearer. Linseed oil was 4s a gallon, and is now 12s 9d. White lead sold at from 26s to 2Ss per cwt., and is now SOs to 055." The builder was unable to say definitely whether there was profiteering in the lines quoted. Asked whether he could give any information about the price of timber and ■the reported shortage, the builder said he failed to understand why there should be a shortage of timber at the present time, or why it should be at the present price. The whole of the Main Trunk timber output Was controlled by two associations. These associations issued all schedules of prices and all the mills under their jurisdiction adhered to them. Mills outside the association were selling timber at from Is to 2s per 100 ft. leas. If there was a shortage it must be either artificial or more timbc-r was being exported from the country than Was allowed under the Government regulations. At the end of the railway cut it had been reported to him that there were 13,000,000 feet of all classes of building timber on the skids at the Main Trunk mills. All the skids were full, and the mills were unable to go on working At the end of that time he had ordered 7000 ft. of timber from the association for a special job, and had b'en told that there was a shortage, and that delivery could not be given for three mdnths, possibly longer. Another rise in the price of timber was imminent, and the builder showed the reporter a list comprising all classes of ordinary building materials, showing the increase in prices in a period of 22 months. The increase was approximately 08.23 per cent, throughout, and was most noticeable in the cheaper lines of timber. The reporter was shown also a circular from the Eangltikei Sawmiliers' Association, which stated from a certain date customers would bo charged the current price of timber at the date the timlier was delivered, not when it was ordered, with this further comforting clause: "Further, all orders will be accepted subject to the contingencies of milling and other causes beyond our control. Responsibility cannot be accepted by us for any delay arising, therefrom. Should any contingency beyond our control arise whereby production is delayed or curtailed, we reserve the right to supply timber pro rata to all purchasers in our books at such times." Further commenting on the timber position, the builder said: "The sawmilling trade was never 'in la, more flourishing condition than it is at the present time. True, some of the royalties over bush have risen, but others have been held for a number of years, and are at the old rates. Again, the bush is further back from the line, but improved methods, such as locomotives and motor lorries, have made the system of transport infinitely more efficient and, in the long run, less expensive." The builder's parting advice to the home-maker was: "Don't! Nearly all tiie timber being put into houses at the present time is green," he said. "Tn some cases timber is being got from saplings, which were formerly discarded, instead of from grown trees. It is like expecting; a youth to have the toughness and lasting power of a grown man. And all building prices are terribly high. If a man can find a shack to live in let him go and live in it rather than pay the present prices." The builder in question is going hack to work on wages rather than stand the weav and tear of present conditions, and rather than become a profiteer. The honesty of his intentions and his experience in the trade make his point of view all the 'more interesting.