The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-05-12
GREAT ADVANCE IN
BUILDING MATERIAL
Lumber Costs Sl4 Thousand
More Than Year Ago-SteeI
and Hardware Keep Pace
Freight Shortage and War De-
mands Responsibility Be
No Relief For Years

HAY" been feeling a steadily increasing
pr">~nr" the last year, due indirectly to
til" war, and today the cost of building
IN this city and elsewhere in the Isl.
Auds - higher than probably at any
tim" sine" the white man came to the
Archipelago. 1t is so large, in fact,
that few intending builders are
threatening to suspend their plans for
time, anticipating n return to some
thing like the normal level Of formc,
days.
Dealers in building materials are not
advising such suspensions, however, foI
they say that the present prospect is
for higher prices--much higher, and for
he maintenance of the extremely high
values for several years at the least.
The facts are reported as follows.
Timber Advances $14
+. J. Lowrcy, president of Levers 4
Cooke, firm which has three lumber
Schoon"rs on the run between Honolulu
and Puget Sound, the latter Hawaii y
lumber supply source, estimated of
hnmd yesterday that the price Of this
material has advanced $l4 a thousand
fe"t'in the last year, and that the cost
f building hardware has gone up
about twenty-five per cent in the same
period. From other sources it is
learned that the advance in heavy con
Struction steel has moved up at the
same or an even greater ratio, while it
is next t" impossible now to import
steel from the East.
"Thc actual cost Of the lumber it
self on the Coast has increased $40 II
thousand feet in year," said Mr.
Lo"rry, while the freight has added
a more to the increase figure. " Today
costs about $40 a thousand laid dowr
in Honolulu.
War Not the Sole Cause
Whether war demands are the reason
for the enhancement of lumber value |
in the Puget Sound country is nor
lear, hut presumably they are til, |
basic cause. They are held almost di |
rectlv responsible for the larger cost Of |
'rcightagc Of course. but not entirely |
There is shortage of shipping on the
Pacific, n result of the war, but almost |
any kind Of vessel can carry lumber
and many that are hardly available for
any other carrying business can ply in |
the lumber trade safely
But the wars demands have taken
practically all save the typical lumber
SchOOncrs into more important trade,
and Australia s willingness to pay ex.
tremely high prices for freightage gives
It the use of vessels which otherwise
might be ready to deliver to Honolulu.
The American Hawaiian Steamship
ines contract with the sugar planters
% transport their entire sugar output
% San Francisco has eliminated j.
rom the lumber carrying business, its
hips kept busy carrying these cargOes
o the Coast. and returning empty d.
ect to the Islands. They do not have
ime to shift to Gray's Harbor or Puget
sound and take on lumber.
The Matson Navigation Company has
more business offered between Hawaii
md the States than its vessels can
axe, with the result that it handles
'nly the more reriShnble, higher priced
md consequently more profitable ma
erlal. This leaves the lumber carry
ng to the windiammer class as strict.
y lumber scho0nrrs, and Australia is
n competition with Hawaii for all Of
hese.
'an't Get Quotations
The strong appreciation in builders |
ardwarc is due not only to war de
hands in tn" Eastern factories, but to
he fact that such materials must be
cnt across tn" continent by rail in
tead of through the canal or around
he Horn by steamer, us formerly, and