5

H.—lla

The chief obstacle to building operations has been in obtaining supplies of materials. In view of the fact that practically all the dwellings now under construction are of concrete, the recent shortage of cement has greatly intensified the difficulties to be met; but the decision of the Board of Trade to allocate cement in accordance with the urgency of requirements, placing workers' dwellings second on the list, should have the.effect of largely removing this difficulty in future. The shortage of timber also has been marked, but the Department has recently overcome this to some extent by arranging for the purchase of large quantities directly from the mills. In November last the Department arranged for the importation of considerable quantities of other materials, such as rooling-iron and other hardware, and these are now almost all to hand. In this connection it may be noted in justification of the Department's action that while the current price of roofing iron in New Zealand is £75 a ton. a shipment of 200 tons arranged for by the Department was recently landed at a cost of £43 a ton. Shortage of Labour. In order to disclose one cause of this shortage I have obtained information showing that in the various building trades there has been a great falling-off in the number of apprentices since five years ago. In the carpentering trade, for instance, the employers in. the principal towns in the Dominion employed in April, 1914, 391 apprentices. To keep pace with the increase in population this number should have increased by April, 1919, to 405, yet the number employed by the same employers was only 245 —not much more than half. The shortage of apprentices and skilled workers not only in the building trade but in most occupations calls for serious and urgent attention, as mentioned in last year's annual report of Ihe Department, Work in Hand and ln Immkimatis Prospect, It is satisfactory to state that the prospects for the building of houses have considerably improved during the past two or three months. Materials are coming to hand from abroad ; for example, the 200 tons of roofing-iron ordered by us last year, and already referred to, have just arrived by the '" Durham," as well as a large quantity of other building-materials. Timber, which was most difficult to obtain until May, is now coining forward somewhat, although it will be some time before timberyard stocks are replenished to enable regular supplies to be obtained. It is unfortunately not easy however, for sawmillers to get men in sufficient numbers to take employment in the bush, because most men are looking for more comfortable jobs. The difficulty re cement is also being overcome under the system of control instituted by the Board of Trade. The several factors I have mentioned, together with the decision of (lie Government to enforce the War Regulation restricting or prohibiting non-essential building, should now ease the si) nation very considerably. We. have, in fact, already been able to enter into new contracts for the erection of I 18 complete dwellings in addition to sixteen that are being erected by day labour. The houses arranged for since the Act was passed viz., from November, 1919, to 30th June— are as follows :-—

[ I I Town* Nu Number of Houses under Construction. III! Co on >er of J under istnict II, r itic [oi on tuseE ii. is Number. completed. 0( Number. «>m|ilctc( r :d, Additional Number for which Negotiations are in Progress. Totrl, Wellington Auckland Chiistchureb Dunedin New Plymouth. . Hawera Wanganui Masterton Oamaru Nelson Palmerston North Feilding Paeroa '■. Levin Napier Hastings Hamilton Stratford .. 139 II 63 9 10 35 8 8 4 10 2 1 1 1 139 II 63 9 10 35 8 8 4 10 2 1 1 1 6 1 1 4 1 6 1 1 4 1 350 100 37 25 43 25 10 40 5 II 15 (i 2 10 6 25 6 II . 2 5 4 3 3 6 6 9 II 4 489 II I 100 25 52 35 15 48 13 15 25 8 I 3 n 6 25 (i I! 2 5 L 3 3 (i 6 1) 11 4 Inveroargill Oarterton Morrinsville Marton Otorohanga Te Kuiti Te Aroha Te Awamutu .. Taihape Timaru Wintou Totals 305 305 13 13 780 1,085