NOTES.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19160, 17 November 1927, Page 4

NOTES.

Foundations for the new St. John's vicarage in Latimer square have been completed, and tie reinforced brick walla have reached a height of about three feet. Tenders arc invited till 10 a.m. on December 2nd for the erection of an aci'l building at Burnside for Messrs Kempt-home, Prosser and Co.'s New Zealand' Drug Co., Ltd. Among the permits issued by the City Council during the past few days are those for a refreshment room at Monica Park, additions for the Anchor Lodge at the corner of Graham and Portman streets (Mr A. H. Jarvis, builder), shop at 477 Papanui road for Mv B. Fisher (Mr W. E. Kamsay, builder), and shop at 224 Linwood avenue for Mr Bradley (Mr E. Hindle, builder). PROVINCIAL COUNCIL CHAMBERS. ENGINEER'S REPORT. [THE PEESS Special Service] WELLINGTON, November 16. The 'Minister for Works (Mr Williams) lias forwarded to Mr H. Holland (Christchurch North) a copy of a.report on the condition of the Provincial Council Chambers by the Resident Engineer of Public Works. In regard to the dampness in the floor Mr Langbein says he has had the rubber taken off for a few months to ascertain if possible the cause of the dampness. Rubber floor covering is, he says, commonly used in large buildings without complaint as to its being a cause of dampness. As to dry rot and borer in the timber, affected timber has been largely replaced with new. The roof has been overhauled and made watertight. The building is so old that there will always be some repairing to be done. "I understand." says Mr Langbein, "that a scheme for rebuilding the wooden portion of the old structure is under consideration, and I do not see j that we can do better with the existing building than to continue to spend moderately on removing and replacing the worst of the decayed borerinfested timbers, as we have been doing during the past two years." MASONITE. NEW WOOD BY-PRODUCT. The latest all-wood by-product to reach the market is masonite, being manufactured from southern pine sawmill waste by a steam gun process similar to that employed to produce the well-known puffed rice and puffed wheat.

The inventor, Mr W. H. Mason, manager of the Mason Fibre Co., of Larnel, Miss., has a long record of successful inventions back of him, one of them being the process of extracting pitch from southern pine in seasoning. The process of manufacture is by introducing cut sawmill waste, free from sawdust and bark, into steam cylinders, to which steam at about 7501b pressure is admitted!. After from 15 to 20 seconds a valve in the bottom of the cylinder is opened, and the wood waste is shot out, as from a gun, the long cellulose fibres blown apart, and a soft, fluffy long-fibred pulp produced. The lignins or natural cementing structure of the wood are retained, and the strength of the fibre is unimpaired—both impossibilities when the usual mechanical or chemical processes are employed. The nature, strength, and composition of the original wood are retained. Tho pulp is then formed and pressed under heat by hydraulic pressure into broad boards, from which all moisture is removed. It is then edged.

Two types of masonite are produced, the difference being the degree of pressure exerted. Tho first is moderately strong, and is available in 4ft widths and lengths up to 12ft, and is half an inch thick. It is an excellent insulating material suitable for roofs and side walls, and is marketed in the same way as wallboard. It may be employed as a plaster base, or used •undecorated for interior walls, tho natural colour being a pleasing mottled brown. The other type is hard and correspondingly stronger.—The "Australian Forestry Journal," July, 1927.

SMOKE-STACK FALLS. GALA DAY IN NORTH. The outstanding landmark at Riverhead, Auckland, a brick chimney which towered 120 feet on the site of the paper-mills, was demolished recently, the occasion being quite a gala day for the residents, who gathered in force to see the operation carried out. Upon the cessation of operations at the paper-mills the property passed into the hands of the Auckland firm of A. W. Bryant, and, as the big smokestack was not of further use as it stood, it was decided to remove it. The preparatory operations included the chipping away of the buttress of the stack. A fire, which had been prepared, was lit, and as the heat accumulated the stack began to sway gently. It gradually gathered momentum, and then with a crash toppled in the direction of fhe river, the line of fall that had been marked out for it. By the process adopted, instead of relying upon the shattering effect of explosives, the major portion of the bricks were saved for future use. Practically all Riverhead's population was clustered on a neighbouring hillsidte to view an event which proved to be very spectacular. One old gumdigger brought his concertina with him, and played .a selection of items to enliven the proceedings. *