The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-07-10
CITY IS CRAMPED
BY AIGAlPR|CES
Soaring Cost Of Building Mate
rails flinders Municipal !
Construction Work

Oil; lumber, cement and other com
modities used by municipal department
IN construction OF maintenance worl
have started soaring skyward In pric
and the city and county government i
feeling the full effects Of an attack o
high cost of living that Is traceable {,
the scarcity of materials and simila
high prices on the Pacific Coast whenc,
these supplies come.
Explanation of the recent pilikia on
conntered by the city in trying to re
new its contract for fuel oil supplies i
found IN the shortage of this commod
ity that exists on the Pacific Coast
which is attributed to lack Of sufficien
shipping facilities.
When the bids for supplying the city
with fuel oil were opened il was fount
that only one of three COMPANIES il
Honolulu had submitted tenders ant
then only at price current on the day
Of delivery.
VIII Not Contract
The oil company officials state thai
they have received advices from thu
mainland not to make bids ut contract
prices because of the uncertainty OF
the prices and the chaotic freight con
ditions. tf ..a ~ 80
In the latter factor is found the ex
PLANTATION of the fuel oil situation
which has resulted in a shortage on
the Pacifc Coast and consequent lack
of certain supply here. fIrfla
Mail adyiees received yesterday from
San Francisco stated that lack of suf.
ficient number of purely cargo bottoms
and the. supposed misunderstanding in
the East Of western conditions, were
the two elements that have created an
oil shortage in the West, according to
oil experts in San Francisco.
Not Enough Ships
The oil experts make this explana.
tion as their view of the real reasons
for the threatened crippling of west
orn industries due to q lack of fuel oil
The bottoms, they declare, are need,
ed to bring the oil out of Mexico, for
that country in their opinion can sup.
ply the oil needs of all Europe and a
good part of this country Indefinitely
To bring this oil out of Mexico by
rail is prohibitivc, they say. Ships
are the only salvation, and there are
not enough ships to supply the Euro.
pean demand alone. -...
There is scarcity of supply, but
no potential shortage, these oil men
contend. And they believe that if
congress opened to development, the
4tatcis oil reserve, which has shrunk
from over 60,000,O00 barrels to approx
imatoly 10000 900 in three years, will
be entirely wiped out in few more
years, and there will be general in
dustr.al paralysis, despite the fact
that the coalition of thousands of
acres of proven but undeveloped oil
lands win still obtain.
Oil Lands Tied Up
The Southern Pacific Company had
announced that it is facing a crisis,
not because of any real oil shortage,
but because its 10000 acres of oil
lands in the Midway district are tied
up from complete development by lit.
igation. The company is supplying it.,
self only from the wells it is allowed
to operate in this district. :
SO far as is known there are no laws
that will allow of for the issuing of
patents on these lands. In brief, the
government, now that it has these
lands in its possession, has no machin
cry to bestow them upon prospective
operators, as the old Placer mining
Jaws under which they were first 10.
Gated arc now imperative.
The question will be solved. these
oil men declare, when congress sees
the necessity of passing laws opening
these lands to development.
Lumber Also Jumps
Yesterday the city found that lum,
Der had joined the aviation corps when
bids were opened for supplies for build.
ing work. The prices submitted to
the city show an increase averaging
from fifteen to twenty-five per cent.
Redwood is up from SAT to $55, clear
Northwest from $50 to $40 while other
grades show an advance of seven or
eight dollars.
Henry Freitas, building inspector,
stated that he would recommend that
the bids be rejected. He says that the
school and the park departments plan
the erection of twelve buildings this
year but that the prices at present for
materials would bankrupt the depart.
nents before they were half through
their building programs.
The cement prices also show an in.
crease. The bids Of II. Hackfeld & Co.
and TheO. II. Davies & Co, were each
1926 a barrel, which is ten cents more
than the price of 1915 a barrel six