NOTES.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20090, 20 November 1930, Page 4

NOTES.

Ijast uoiitii the City Council authorised the erection of 44 dwellings, costing £30,872, and X" other buildings (£10,100) ; altcrat ions and additions to 37 dwellings (£2631), and six other buildings (£9115): and the demolition of iivo dwellings and one oilier .structure. After tha recent New Soiafi Wales flection almost overy union at tlie Sydney Trades' Hall was lor a. thue busily engaged appointing deputations to ask the neiv Uovernmnet to rectify its grievances. The Painters' Union decided to ask each Minister to give directions for the painting ui his oiiires &o as to provide work lor unemployed painters. A atone from the Great Wall ot China will be the gift of the Uotnrians of China to each of the 55 .:ountries of the world which have joined in the Ilotary movement. The stone which will bo presented to Australia is carried on the Changt.se by Kotarian J. Frost, a consulting electrical engineer of Shanghai. He will present it to the Sydney C'lnb on his arrival there. Xtacent prices received in tendering (states the Sydney "Morning Herald") show that there is a desire to do work much cheaper than last year, llrieks have fallen about £1 per iOOO, and the cost of laying the bricks is also 50 per cent, less than 12 months ago. Stonework is cheaper, 'limber, of which 75 per cent is used on a building is imported from America, is not cheaper. The duty prevents a fall in value, and it is the ssn»e with all imported building materials. Carpenters, and indoed all tradesmen, nrc working for loss wages to-day than they were a few months ago. There is, however, very little work showing just now, and architects and master builders ar« generally without jobs. The 1929 production na» well forecasted by Ht.ite Forest Service. The Service predicted 209 million feet, and the actual cut was 270,000,000 feet. The predicted cut for the year ended March 31st, 1030, is 272,0 M,OOO feet b.m., as based upon the monthly tirnher loadings reported by the New Zealand Railways and published by the Government Statistician in the Monthly Abstract of Statistics. The trend of building in the current year i» touched on in the report of the State Forest Service as follows: —''With a drop in the building permits for the 1930 January-March period the domestic demand has slackened. As considered by individual localities, the situation varies considerably. Auckland and Wellington representing the extremes, with Christchurch and Dunedin ranking lvetween. Whereas in Auckland the building permits for the 1930 January-March period totalled only £.337.705, as compared with £591,965 for the corresponding period of 1029, in Wellington the respective figures were £800,510 and £028". 117, in Dunedin £243,971 and £131,980, and in Cliristchurch £'.132.293 and £229.120." "Members will remember tlia< we were definitely promised that tenders would be called and tlie work put in hand before the end of the year. ' »aid th© president (Mr A. O. Cameron) at the meeting of tlie council of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce on Monday night when the new Pqat Office was mentioned. The local officer of the Public Works Department, he added, had tio information as to when thu tenders would )>e called, and Keemcci to be in a complete state of ignoranee. The time had arrived for a further request for information. Mr P. O. Smellic said that there seemed to be a growing volume of opinion that the work would not be gone on with, tie did not know whether the information came from an inspired source, but several business men hsd told him that the Government did not intend to go on with the work in the meantime. The meeting agreed to leave it to the executive to take the necessary action. Flat building in Dunedin is almost in its infancy, but the time does not seem far distant when this type of dwellingwill be as popular there as iri other p--ts of the Dominion. The demand for residential fiats planned on modern lines is increasing daily in view of the great difficulty in obtaining 3. dwelling at a moderate price within the eity. In order to meet this growing desire, a company was formed some time ago, and sinee that date considerable progress has been made. The company is known as Castle Buildings, Ltd., and with the assistance of Messrs Geg. Lawrenee and Co. has erected a row of fiats fit the corner of Albany and George streets; has converted a very substantial residence in Manor place into a suite of fiats; and is now o«t gaged on the eroetion of a further batch of flats in fTniou street. The latest venture in Union stroet is progressing satisfactorily, and h«s kept a staff of men in constant work. The area of the land to bp co„verod by the building 3-lone is 112 ft :c 06ft, on which 'fourteen self-contained dwellings will be erected. At a conference of building authorities held at the Sydney Town to consider the amendment to the City of Sydney Building Act the Government Savings Bank at the top of Martiii place, one of the largest buildings in. the city, was described as "a monstrosity." The conference sought to bring in a clause in the Act to provide that where an application was made to the city building surveyor for the erection of a building, the elevations and other details should be submitted to an advisory committee (consisting of the president of the Institute of Architects the president of the Board of Architects, tjie city building surveyor, and tho president of the Board of 'Trustees of the National Art Gallery), the committee to advise the eity buildiqg surveyor as to the Appropriateness and suitability of design with regard to the skyline and harmony with neighbouring buildings. Aldorman McElhone said he did not think the Council would tolerate any incursion into its administrative affairs by taking advice from an outside hody. Mr J. Grant said he thought such a committee would be advisable- It might help to prevent the erection of such monstrosities as the Government Savings Bank, he said. Alderman McElhgne ?eniß?ked that one architect might describe a building $s a. monstrosity, while another migb.t call it a thing of beauty. The conference agreed to recommend the inclusion of the suggestion for an advisory corn-, inittec.