BRITTS

Dock activity is bach to t'airLv normal operoting at West Coast ports, tho snags created by the record 135 day strike that froze most commercial shipping will take another 60-90 d.ays to rnore or lcss t'ompletely iron oul

Contract calls t'or a basic pttt' hike ot' 26/o, in 2 steps, over the nert l7 mos.; Harry Bridges has walned that t'ailure ot' the Poy Board to OK either this or the East Coast settlements would put both back on the bricks in o combined strike,' no word yet from the Pay Boar,l

Ceorsie-Pacific has been granted, a 2/o ecross the boarrL prit:e hike for its products, rvith sclectiue increases up to l5/o ()K'd as long as the over-all average is 2/o; it clidn't take long for -*ome of those I5/o jumps to show u1r in the currently hot redwood market; generally, price guidelines in softwoods stil/ remain aague. many are proceeding with "e hope and a prayer," as one prominent Western wholesaler phrased it...

The stotistical stratosphere got banged again as housing starts in January hit the 2,549,000 annual rate, up 4.8/o lrom Dec. Jan. home mortgage rates stayed even with Dec., at 7.77/o, well below the B.lB/o of a year ago . most banks have cut their prime rate to 4a/z%, in line with the general so-called floating prime rate o{ aYz%; lst Nt'I. City Bank o{ N.Y., tho, has dropped their floating prime rate to 43/t<% most banks have also choppedl/z% off "most categories" of consumer loans, the latest in a series of recluctions dating back 18 mos.

Potlatch forests lnc. has ended negotiations with lrlational Homes Corp. over the possible sale of " certain (/ssels" of their S1teedspoce. subsidiary... Security Pacific barrk says hardware sales in '71 were up 13/o over '70 deslrite a 13lo decline in hardware stoi'es from '60-'70 .

L,umber execs. are not optimislic that American Assn. of Railroacls' box car retur,n, orders and ,$50 per violation fine will prevent the usual lale uinter box car shortage resulting from Calif.'s lst llonday-in-\{arch inventory tax date; at this rvriting, it is still too earLy 10 gel a definite reading on the situation

Cash & Carry plans a new store in Boise, Idaho, this fall, reports flob Bohrer; they are considering a neu) frmname because of difficulties in legally tieing up full control of the Cash & Carry name . Woodside Lumber Co., Denver, has bought a 3 acre intlustrial site and building adja. cent to their present retail operation on W. BBth Ave. . Ole's has opened e new store in Riverside. Calif.: Lin-Brook Hardware opens there in. April in the old ,{BC Llnion store .

Builder's Emporiurn is building a nen store in Redwood City, Calif., al the site of the old Nt;I. Seal div. plant . Calit'ornia Panel & Veneer is leasing Yz of a $500,000 industrial blds. now under construction in Cerriios

Two Guys stores in the metro L.A. area are beginning to sell lumber 'for the first tirne, in addition to their other merchandise lines Snaps Building Materials is no\{ operating Home Lumber Co., Chula Vista, Calif., following retirement of owner Mrs. Helene Butcher .

Weldtuootl Structures. a div. of U.S. Plywoodo has been accluired by Simpson Co., San Leandro, Calif., which will operate it as Strong-Tie Structures: no price given for the sale . . . Michigan California Lumber Co., Camino, Calif., is finishing a $204,598 installation of an automatic dry lumber chain adjacent to o, new high speed planer to replace present hand operations; cost of the machinery has not been re' vealed

U. S. construction s p e nd i n g should continue upwardso hitting $120.4 billion in'72, up 9.5/o aboae last year, according to Johns-Manville . Union Pacifit, ftR will spend approximatelr $1A63 milLion this year for equipment and roadway improvements group discussions on problems encountered by firms in the groups.

I'airchild Lumber, So. Eugene, Ore., has been sold to Jay Gregory, 34, a former merchandise mgr. for Sears Roebuck; no price was given BiS Bear Particle Board Co., Redlands, Calif., after spending $400,000 in the last 5 years in lrollution control attempts, has closed because they could not rneet county air pollution control requirements . .

Weslock Co., a major lock mt'r., is building an 80,000 sq. ft. expansion to its present Los Angeles plant . . . Rep. Charles Thone (R-i\eb.) has intro'd. a bill (HR 12680) to amend the OSHA law to require different sat'ety standards for the light residential construction industry from those for heavy construction . .

McCulloch Corp. celebrated their 25th anniuersary with the lrroduction of their 3 millionth chain saw . . Wash,., Ore. and No. Calit'. produce I/3 of all U.S. lumber, 2/3rds of all plywood . . retail dealers hand.le amost 70% of all plywood sold.