Construcfion Contrqcts 5og

Recovery of the construction industry suffered a setback in April as the month's contracts for future work declined, reported the F. W. Dodge Company, an analyst of construction activity. Total construction contract value in April, the latest available figures, amounted to $4,389,071,000. 13 per cent below the year' ago figure.

o'April's interruption of the strong first quarter advance in contracting occurred in spite o{ a new spurt of industrial and commercial building projects," said Dodge's George Christie, ad' ding, "the latest month's gaps showed up in the key areas of housing, utilitieg and highways."

At the end of four months, the total value of 1967 construction contracts was lagging behind last year's figures by 11 per cent. The early part of 1966 was a period of record activity, however, and according to Christie, o'a good deal of the current de{icit will be made up during the months immediately ahead as this year's rising trend is matched against last year's summer decline."

At $1,830,452,000, contracts for nonresidential building in April came within three per cent of the year-ago total. Last year, April shared with September the all-time peak for nonresidential building activity at the seasonally-adjusted index value of lB9. In the latest month the nonresidential building in' dex was again near this record at 184, and well above March's r77.

Manufacturing building remained unchanged from last year's high level, while commercial and educational building showed moderate declines.

Contracts for residential building totaled $I,627,281,000 in April for a 2l per cent decline from a year earlier. After seasonal adjustment, the index of residential value was lll in the latest month-down from I22 in March, though still well above the low of 92 reached last October.

Both single-family housing and apartment contract value show' ed seasonally-adjusted declines in April.

Iniury Prevention Awqrds

Winners of the Annual Awards for injury prevention in lumber and logging in California have been announced by the California Lumbermen's Accident Prevention Association.

The Annual Awards for the best records are made in several categories. The primary award, the Nat Edwards Memorial Plaque, is presented annually to the company having 300,000 or more manhours or exposure with the lowest Johnson Index of all competing companies.

The winner was the Diamond National Corporation, which had the best record of all competing large companies for the year 1966. This is the third year they have won this prize.

The Derby Bendorf Memorial Plaque, presented annually to the company having less than 300,000 manhours with the lowest Johnson Index, was won by the Shasta Forests Company. This company had no disabling injuries in its logging operations.

Association membership is separated into four districts. The district winners for 1966 are:

Arcata Redwood Company - Arcata Stockton Box Company - Stockton Shasta Forests Company - Redding General Box Distributors - Fresno

There was a decrease in the 1966 overall frequency rate of the California Lumbermen's Accident Prevention Association members to 28.49 compared with 29.25 in 1965.