DURABILITY OF BRICK.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18405, 11 June 1925, Page 4

DURABILITY OF BRICK.

TIME-HONOURED ESTEEM. Throughout a long period of intense propaganda in favour of concrete construction, the solid and time-honoured brick emerges unimpaired, in. popular esteem, says an Australian paper. For a time the output of bricks was restricted through tho commandeering of coal for war emergencies, and later through labour troubles at the collieries in tho unsettled post-war period. Now that coal is in fairly good supply, the brick-makers arc increasing their output, but owing mainly to the continued high price of coal for tho kilns, they are not reducing tho price of their product. Tho shrinkage of local timber supplies has given the brickmakers a chance to retake their old dominating position in tho building material market. However, people may be disposed to grumblo at tho prioe of bricks, and tho quality and wages of bricklayers, there can be no cavil at the quality of Australian -bricks. They rank, in fact, amongst the world's best, as international tests liavo proved. Bricks are amongst the most lasting of human products. The hand-made and sundried bricks of tho ancient Egyptians have survived the test of timo for thousands of years. Early Australian bricks were hand-made. They were porous, but substantial. The. modern brick is heavy,, dense and almost impervious to moisture. So much so, that it is possible to erect a _ hope now with single brick walls, without fear of tho weather penetrating the walls. Those who weigh the possibilities of brick or concrete lasting the longer, when put into a house, seem to be uselessly taking on the cares of eternity. Either will last hundreds of years, and havo been known to last thousands. In favour of brick, it may be said that the principles of its manufacture have been established for generations, and it is a thoroughly sound article; ouo of the striking proofs, indeed) of the superiority of the machine-made over tho hand-made article.