The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-02-15
Rise
In Price
Of Lumber
PROMINENT LUMBER MERCHANT
IN THIS CITY-WAS HERE FIRST
IN 1851.

The head of one of the largest lum-
Der firms doing business i'm the bay
region, George w. Fisher. is in this city
resting from business cares which have
been very strenuous for him since the
San Francisco disaster. He will re-
main in this city some weeks and then
return to his business, that of Fisher &
Company with headquarters in Oak
land California.
Mr.. Fisher was in Honolulu in 1851
with his father who was the captain
of a whaler. He revisited the city in.
the EOS and is now paying his third
visit. He has been busy since his ar
val in trying to locate some of the old
landmarks which he remembered from
his first visit but he has given it up
as a hopeless task as the change has
been 50 great.
For twenty-seven years Mr.. Fisher
has been in business in California and
for the crater portion of that time he
has been at the head of lumber COM
pany. He was taken to call upon Man
ager j. f. Lowrey of Levers e Cooke
this morning by Secretary Wood of the
Promotion Committee.
Honolulu is not the old Honolulu"
said Mr.. Fisher this morning, "and
although l have looked for familiar
landmarks so far l have been unable
to locate any. 1 was here in 1851 and
since that time l have always had the
greatest of alohas for the islands. A
visit to them in the early 7O's gave me
an opportunity to renew my acquaint-
ance with them but now l find that they
have all disappeared and in their place
has come a progressive city. When
first came the natives were living here
in much the same manner as they were
when they were first put here but now
they have been greatly changed by the
inroads of civilizatio
When asked regarding the high price
of lumber prevailing at present Mr..
Fisher said: II do not look for drop
in the present high price of lumber
but 1 rather expect a further rise.
Everything has advanced in the lum-
Der business and the dealers are forced
to charge proportionate prices.
Soon after the San Francisco earth
quake the retailers were charged WITH
forming a trust against the interests
Of the community at large and were
dragged into court to undergo an exa-
minatiOn 1t all came to nothing how
ever as the high price is caused by the
price of logs. The logging men form
ed a union and the price of logs went
up. AS most of the mills do not own
their forest lands but buy from logging
companies they must pay the price and
consequently the dealers must charge
more. Lumber which | have sold for
SIG thousand is at present selling for
$34 thousand. And there will be no
drop in my estimation but rather an
increase. At least that was the ex-
pectatiOns of lumber men on the coast
when / left.
Il was indeed fortunate at the time
of the San Francisco earthquake as I
had previously laid in a huge stock of
lumber. / had the room for it and I
bought large stock which came in
very handy after the disaster. None
of the dealers charged outrageous prices
as charged but rather allowed the lum-
Der to go at the same prices as had
prevailed previous to the earthquake.
The DEMAND for lumber at that time
was something tremendous. L have
had men come into my Office and lay
down $500 just to make sure they
would get certain lumber they had pur-
chased from us.
There win be no drop for some time
as ii would mean the instant stopping
OF all work in the rebuilding of the
city For when a contractor sees
that lumber goes down a dollar or two