GALI RIGHMOND 7.2 I35

The mills we represent ship the kind oI lumber thct SEIIS. Thct is why we scy "ccll Rlchmond 7-7135" beccruse we ccn Iurnish your needs, r'egcrrdless oI the species you require, in unlimited qucrntities.. . Your order will be filled promptly cnd elliciently when you ccrll us .

FHA Active in Long Beqch

During the past three years many thousands of properties in the Long Beach FHA Offrce jurisdiction have been satisfactorily improved or remodeled and financed through the facilities of FHA's Title I, Insured Property Improvement loans, according to H. V. Davidson, Director, of the I-ong I3each Federal Housing Administration Office.

Title I, Insured Financing hol<ls an important place in a program to finance the repair of, to remodel, or to add to any type of existing structure, not only to maintain properties in good condition but very often to increase the o'ivner's income, and in all but a comparatively few cases the program has been very satisfactory, Mr. Davidson continued. "Those few cases are the result of the activities of unprincipled persons," he said.

Reseqrch Society Meets

The Forest Products Research Society held its annual meeting in Memphis, Tenn., June 15 to 17. As sidelines to the meeting, tours were conducted through three r.vood products industries in Memphis, E. L. Bruce Company, S. R. Hungerford Company, and Nickey Brothers.

Briton Gloims Cheop Wood Pqnel

W. J. Fiscl-rbein, well knor,vn British industrialist, announces he has perfected a press that will convert rvood n'aste into high grade rvood panels that will sell from 3 to 9 cents a square foot. The machine costs over half a million dollars.

Max Barnett, Southern California sales manager for Hollorv Tree Redwood Company of Ukiah, California, spent several days during the month of June conferring with company officials in San Francisco. The company sawmill sales offices are maintained at 110 W. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach.

Moy Housing Storts-107,000

Housing starts totaled 107,000 in May, a decrease of about 3,000 units from April, according to preliminary estimates of the U. S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although the decline was slight, it rvas rather general throughout the country and represented the first April-May downward movement since World War II. A rise in housing activity had been expected in May after interest rates were increased for FHA and VA mortgage loans.

Privately-owned dwellings put under construction during the month totaled 104,000, a little less than the April figure (106,000 units) but the greatest May volume since the record high of i950. Public housing starts, at 2,80O units, rvere down by 2O per cent from April, and came to less than a third of the level of May a year ago.

Preliminary reports of building permits issued indicate that all sections of the country, except the New England region, shared in the April-May decline in private housebuilding. May was marked by very heavy rainfall, and floods in a number of States which may have prompted builders in some places to delay obtaining permits and starting construction.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, preliminary estimates indicate that total housing starts (private and public) u'ere at an annual rate ol 1,067,N0 in May. The final revised estimate for February was 1,258,000 while the preliminary rates for March and April were 1,114,000 and 1,I74,00O.