IS THERE A TIMER RING?

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 9000, 10 December 1907, Page 3

IS THERE A TIMER RING?

"FRIGE OF TIMBER AND ITS ';;.;;. _ , EFFECTS. ' ~; t The head of a large building firm in Wellington confessed to arepre-, sentative : of the Evening. Post that he coulHnot understand the vagaries of the local timber market at all, and tWey were- daily becoming more difficult to master. , "For instance," said he*, "in May last heart of matai. rustic, was 22s 6d per 100 ft super, ,it is now 24s less 7id per cent., tho usual discount for cash. In Nelson ypu can buy. the same qualities of timber for 12s 6d perl 00ft in v the bush, arid 13s per lOOft in. Nelson itself. The Union Company will bring it over for 3s per "100 ft, and a scow will bring it for 2s per 100 ft. age in Wellington costs 6d per 100 ft oh the flat, that is,'as far' as, Ne w: tbwrj or Thorndon, and Is per 100 ft in places like Kilburne or .Brooklyn; T. and G. flooring, which costs 18s in Wellington, is spld in Nelson.for 13s"; and 0.8 l or ordinary building, is sold in Wellington for 18s, as against 10s in Upson. 'ln Greymouth and the freight thence . to Wellington by steamer is the same as from Nelson heart of matai is lis per 100 ft in the yard." •'."'. : The builder Was asked why he did not import from Nelson, but hereplied: "If I did so, the timber ring would not let me have another stick. In fact I did place an order with a miller here after being refused by •one firm. He undertook to let me have the timber, but rang up later in the day saying he was torry he could not execute the- order, as our firm .■was on the black list, presumably because we had been purchasing out of Wellington, as actually was the case. We have 25 houses to build,- but we cannot go on with them at-the price timber is, now. The reason why timber is cheaper in Nelson is because there is no timber ring in that place. At Greymouth I saw some remarkably well-finished houses that cost £250 each to put up. They could not .be put up in .Wellington under ' £450 I ejach. Price of labour does not make .'the !difference—it is. the enormous "'variation in the price of timber here. ;We cannot get timber in the country in places like the Wairarapa or. Tainape—the millers there will not sell in the Wellington market against local firms. A project is on foot 'among a number of builders here to a bush and cut, for,themselves, ..- The present high rents-in »Wellington, are largely due to ,the ~exorbitant prices of timber. It is ' not.the builder who is getting the .profit/? .-