CONSTITUTION AND TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE COMMITTEE. We hereby appoint Sir Halford Mackinder. A. V. Alexander, Esq., M.P. Sir Theodore Chambers, K.B.E. Sir Charles T. Ruthen. Richard Coppock, Esq. J. Stanley Holmes, Esq. W. T. Lancashire, Esq., M.I.C.E. Lieut.-Col. C. B. Levita, C.B.E., M.V.O., J.P. D. Ronald, Esq. J. Walker Smith, Esq. to be a Committee to survey the prices of building materials and to receive and consider complaints in respect thereof and to report from time to time to the Minister of Health and the President of the Board of Trade as to the facts and in particular as to the extent to which in any case the price appears to be unduly high by reason of the operation of any trade combination, trust or agreement. We further appoint Sir Halford Mackinder to be Chairman and T. H. Sheepshanks, Esq., of the Ministry of Health, to be Secretary of the Committee. Dated this 27th day of April, 1923. (Signed) NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN. P. LLOYD-GREAME. NOTE. The cost of printing and publication of this Interim Report is estimated by the Stationery Office to be £24 10s. Od. To the Right Hon. Neville Chamberlain, M.P., Minister of Health, and the Right Hon. Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame, K.B.E., M.C., M.P., President of the Board of Trade. SIRS, We, the Committee appointed on the 27th April, 1923, "to survey the prices of building materials and to receive and consider complaints in respect thereof, and to report from time to time to the Minister of Health and the President of the Board of Trade as to the facts, and, in particular, as to the extent to which in any case the price appears to be unduly high by reason of the operation of any trade combination, trust or agreement," have now reached a stage in our investigations when we think it desirable to submit an interim report. We have made progress both in regard to our survey of Prices and our consideration of Complaints. Though we submit at present only a statement of market prices of typical building materials as ruling in April and June of this year, our investigations are proceeding in various other directions and will be reported in due course. We have at present not received many complaints; such as have been received have related principally to Light Castings and Bricks, and we report provisionally in regard to them lower down. SURVEY OF PRICES. The records of prices which have hitherto been published in the technical journals and elsewhere have, as a rule, been prices quoted in London. We have, therefore, found it necessary to form our own organisation for the ascertainment of prevalent prices in various parts of the country and this has been a matter involving a good deal of time and trouble. The places which we have chosen for this purpose are the following:-Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Leicester, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Swansea, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, and, as typical of rural conditions, the Counties of Cambridgeshire, Hampshire and Herefordshire. Those who can best supply reliable local information are those who buy and sell materials in the districts concerned, e.g., the builders and contractors on the one hand and the manufacturers and merchants on the other. Local Authorities are also large purchasers, under, perhaps, rather special conditions, and there are additional sources of information, such as Wholesale Co-operative Societies, Government Departments and Public Utility Societies. Your Committee feel that they have been fortunate in securing the co-operation of the chief technical advisers of the Local Authorities of the particular areas (B 32/88) A 2 chosen, and wish at once to record their thanks to the following gentlemen who have agreed to act as correspondents for this purpose, and also to the Local Authorities with whom they are connected: Mr. Herbert H. Humphries, City Engineer and Surveyor. Mr. L. S. McKenzie, City Engineer. Mr. W. T. Lancashire, City Engineer and Mr. E. George Mawbey, City Engineer and Mr. G. W. Humphreys, Chief Engineer and Mr. F. W. Platt, Housing Director. Mr. R. G. Roberts, City Architect. Mr. Ernest E. Morgan, Borough Architect. Mr. A. L. Roberts, County Architect. Mr. E. H. Jack, County Surveyor. Mr. James Thomson, City Architect. Mr. A. Horsburgh Campbell, City Engineer and Director of Housing. Mr. John Bryce, Director of Housing. These correspondents are to avail themselves of all sources of information, and to call to their assistance representative local builders, and contractors and local manufacturers and merchants. They have been requested to record actual prices as applicable to various dates in two different forms, namely: (1) A record of the prices of the principal materials required in the construction of a workman's house, arranged under 27 heads. (2) The total cost of these materials in the quantities required for the construction of such a house. (This total will represent fully 95 per cent. of the cost of all the materials required). The returns under the second of these heads are not yet ready, but we are now in a position to submit a statement under the first head for the two months, April and June, 1923, in regard to all but one of our chosen localities. This statement is contained in the Schedule to this report. Your Committee have endeavoured to overcome the difficulties inherent in the great variety of circumstances which may affect prices. They have selected descriptions of material that are known to be reasonably constant in the various localities and subject to comparable conditions. Except where otherwise stated, prices recorded are as delivered on rail at some local railway depot. They are not exceptional prices such as might be quoted to specially large buyers or to those who have special advantages and facilities; nor are they such as are paid by small retail or occasional purchasers. They are those available for the average buyer under ordinary commercial conditions and apply to quantities of convenient bulk for trade minimum orders, such as full truck loads or four-ton lots. They are current and ordinary prices and not such as may be influenced by long period contracts. They are "net" to builders and do not include the profit usually added in compiling tenders and day work accounts. The month of April has been included in our first record of prices for the reason that the Minister of Health in that month introduced the new Government Housing Bill. We propose in future to present similar tables at monthly intervals. Although your Committee fully realise that a retrospective record is also called for, they are not yet in a position to present one, and have thought that a statement of the present day prices and those ruling at the time of the introduction of the new Housing measure should be reported at the earliest possible moment. The outstanding features of the Table we present are two : In the first place, there is considerable variation in the prices of locally produced material; and In the second place, the actual prices, except in the case of light castings, have not at present been subject to general rise since April; although there have been some sporadic rises, there have also been some reductions. LIGHT CASTINGS. Almost concurrently with our appointment, the National Light Castings Association, which controls the prices of the bulk of the light castings produced in this country, announced an increase of 10 per cent. in the prices of certain goods used in House Building. We at once took steps to investigate this matter, and, after preliminary enquiries, appointed a Sub-Committee to visit Scotland, which is the chief centre of the Light Castings Industry in this country. A long interview with representatives of the Association took place in Glasgow, at which it was stated to us that after careful consideration extending over several months, and after negotiation with the Committee of the distributing merchants, a new and reduced scale of prices had been settled, which took effect on February 1st of this year. We reserve our judgment as to the basis of this February scale and express no opinion in regard to it, because we are still waiting for certain information which has been promised to us and more detailed investigation may be necessary. But there is one observation which we think we may usefully make at once. It so happened that almost simultaneously ter 18" W with the announcement of the February prices, the cost of pig iron, of B the raw material of light castings, began to rise. In January, the price of No. 3 Cleveland was 92s. per ton, in February 105s., and in April, when the peak was reached, it was 127s. 6d. Then, on May 1st, the ing Association made an increase of 10 per cent. on the February prices of certain lines of goods. It was, of course, noted at the time that these were the very goods used in building small houses, but we put on record the statement made to us by the Association that this had nothing to do with the announcement in March that the Government at were about to give further subsidies for the erection of such houses.. We think that it is also our duty to record the fact that the representatives of the Association agreed with us in Glasgow that when the effect of the Ruhr occupation on prices passed away, the recent increase ought to be reconsidered. The output of pig iron in this country has been greatly augmented in the last few weeks and the price of No. 3 Cleveland has already fallen to 115s. a ton. Except in the case of coke, which is not a comparatively large item in the production of light castings, we are not aware that any of the other costs either of manu-sh facture or distribution have increased since February, wages have been stationary and railway rates and national and local taxation have tended downwards. It seems to us, therefore, that by their own showing a reconsideration by the Association of the May increase is almost due. BRICKS. sh The question of the price of bricks is engaging our attention. We have received certain specific complaints of increase in price, of which the most important refers to South London. These we are investigating. As we have already pointed out, the prices tabulated in the Schedule to this report indicate no general rise of price in the country as between April and June. in There are, however, certain features of the Brick position to which we think it well to call attention. There has been a rapidly increasing demand in London and the South-east during the last few months and there has also been a considerable increase in production. The monthly production of the manufacturers in the Fletton area was 22 million in January, 1922; 20 million in May, 1922; 23 million in January, 1923; and 33 million in May, 1923. d. sh So far as our information goes, it would not appear that costs of production and distribution have materially increased of late. Coal has increased in price, but on the other hand railway freights have been reduced and also taxation both national and, on the average, local. Moreover, fixed charges can now be spread over a larger turnover. It is probable that in some localities there has been a rise in the price of Bricks owing to the withdrawal of the intermittent competition of large producers from a distance. In times when demand is poor, large manufacturers, e.g., the Fletton manufacturers, must go further afield to find adequate markets. With an increasing demand they £23 £22 20 B Ba £24 £24 20" We £23 £23 100 |