L. A. Sets New Building Record - Industrial Construction Boom for Southland Forecast

All Los Angeles records for valuation of building permits issued in a six-month period were broken during the half-year just closed, C. E. Morris, superintendent of building, has announced. The June valuation of. $19,A72,554 brought the total from January 1 to June 3O to $128,866,lO7. For the comparable span of 1945 the total was about one-sixth as much-$zz,365,869.

Building permits for the first six months ol 1923, the year which set the previous all-tirne record in Los Angeles totaled $93,889,165. No whole year since 1925 has had a total permit valuation as great as the first half of 1946.

The number of permits approved by the Building Departrnent for the six months just ended totaled 27,777, as against 13,952 for 1945.

Southern California is to-have the greatest industrial, commercial and institutional building boom in history, according to Louis \{. Dreves, regional director for the Civilian Production Administration. He forecast the nonhousing boom, rvhich he expects to get under way when the veterans' housing program is far advanced, may bring construction amounting to more than $50,00O,000 a month in the 12 Southern California counties' "The future con-

Buy Full Control oI ComPcrnY

Harry and Ona Terrell of The Terrell Lumber Company, Grants Pass, Oregon, purchased the hal{ interest held by Ben D. and lrene D. Spalding in the l\{erlin Lumber Company, July 1. At the same time they announced the sale of their interest in the Home Builders Lumber Company, Roseburg, Oregon, and the Crescent City Lumber Ccimpany, Crescent City, Calif., to the Spaldings' struction boom will be in all fields of industry in order to supply the demands for.merchandise and to provide jobs for the veterans for r,r'hom the homes are being built," he said.

In his announcement of the acquisition of the Spalding holdings Mr. Terrell stated that his company is now the largest manufacturer of lumber in Josephine County, with three mills having a joint output of 175,000 feet per day.

The Civilian Production Administration director said he based his forecast on the fact that the Los Angeles district office of civilian production has received more applications for authority to build than any other similar offrce in the nation.

Southern California commercial construction projects valued at$84,432,188 rvere approved by the Civilian Produc.tion Administration in the three months ended June 27, Mr. Dreves reported. At the same time he added that the administration, increasing the number of commercial construction jobs denied, rejected 1635 applications for authority to proceed on programs involving an estimated cost of $57,775,478; these projects lvere shelved temporarily until the veterans' housing program gets further underway.

Since May 29, \[r. Dreves said, the Los Angeles office, acting on instructions from Washington, increased denials to two-thirds of the dollar value of approvals for the twoweek period ending May 23.

Prelabricqtion Plants Plcnned

Portland, Ore., July 6.-Plans to turn ou.t prefabricated five-room homes on assembly lines in Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, were announced today by Dean Johnson, president of the Pre{abricated Engineering Co.

The firm purchased the war-surplus Columbia Steel casting plant today to remodel for a home-manufacturing plant. Mr. Johnson said the houses will sell for between $6000 and $7000, delivered and ready for occupancy. "Se\'eral thousand" r'r'ill be turned out next year.

Plants will be established in the California cities when materials are available, he said.

Probable Third.Quarter 1946 Production-- Taker Over Sage CompanY Logging Consumption of Westem Pine And Sawmill Operation at \Tillits

Portland, Ore., June 28.-An analysis of the second quarter 1946 manufacture of Idaho White Pine, Ponderosa Pirle' Sugar Pine and associated woods and probable third quarter- 1946 production-consumption was released today by W. E. Giifiee, assistant secretary-manager, 'Western Pine Arssociation. The statement in full is as iollows:

"Aided by long awaited'OPA action on ceiling prices and by the return 'of men from the armed services, the 'Western Pine industry in the second quarter turned in a better performance than in the second quarter in 1945' It was the first time in two years that both production and shipments have not fallen behind the same quarter of the preceding year.

"Present estimates for the second quarter place production at 1683 million feet, or 4.5 per cent above the second quarter of last year and more than double the production in the first quarter of this year. Production for the entire first half was only 6.2 per cent under 1945, despite the fact that the first quarter was 24.2 per cent below.

"shipments during the second quarter were 1572 million feet, slightly above last year and also a little better than the forecast made three ponths ago. This followed a first quarter that was 2!.6 per cent under 1945' Shipments for' all the first six months were 9.5 per cent below last year'

"Some progress was made during the quarter on the needed rebuilding of mill stocks, though the estimated 875 million feet the industry is expected to have on hand June 30 stitl will be no larger than stocks were last year'

"Consumer demand continues larger than the industry's ability to produce but the gap is beginning to narrow' Generally speaking, the mills have enough employees and recent wage settlements make it unlikely that strikes will hinder production during the next few months' Heavy truck tires again are readily available. There are scattered cases where shortages o{ sugar, meat, saws, heavy tractors, motor graders or other equipment are hinderi4g production but such problems seldom are as serious now as they were during the war'

"Based on such general factors and all other available information, it now seems probable that, during the third quarter of. 1946, shipments (consumption) of lumber by