WRONG PLANS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20096, 27 November 1930, Page 4

WRONG PLANS.

A ULILOISO BI.INOEK. Uc-.-enily {U- llotpit.;! Coii2:niis!'.ii ouppliaJ 1110 Bluo Mountains i.N'ew South Wales) Hospitnl Board wilb plan.s ami tpeciiii.ai.ioii> ior tho cenutruotion of ;i !i .X-ray wp.rd . and caAoalty vard, tl:<j p!ans having prepared by the Public Work,-, Dcpar.mer.i. Now the- discovery boon made by the hospital medical supervisory Ikvjrd tlmt tbo doors allowed in the building are not wide enough to i/ermn tho pastugo •!' beds carrviuj» patients. 'I lie mutter cau&ecl warm discussion when reported to tb« Jiluo Mountains Hospital Board meeting by the medical staff. The chairman (Mr Pct»r Board); It is a most, unfortunate oversight—a blunder. A Board member: The medical staff fc-eoms to wake up after the damage is done. The chairman: It is impossible to inovo a. patient out of tho ward without taking him out of bod. Mrs iSams: The Public Work.-, Dopart merit, should pay the costs of this oversight. 1 have asked the committee to keep away from the Public Works Department. It is always making a mews of things. Mr Hague Smith : We rely upon our medical men as technical advisers. They saw the work in progress, yet. discovered nothing wrong till the work was finished. We should strongly censure nil parties responsible. The chairman said that when the plans were passed there was no medical supervisory Board in existence. The doctors tiad no ntoro opportunity ot sceinw the defect than Board members. Thev" could not bo held blameworthy. The Rev. H. IS. Taylor said he thought that thry should censure the hospitals C'ommi'sion. There were two sets of specifications, supposed to bo duplicates. One set was difierent trom the other. The wrong bet was the one Tiven to the builder to work from. Eventually H was decided that the contractors should bo instructed to make the necessary alterations to the doors and that the Hospitals Commission should.he informed that, it would have t<} bear financial responsibility foi tho blunder.

t-r-rp at Wilbert'orce, New South VValoß, built bv David Dunston, grftat-grand father ot Mr Stephen Dun*atom, who still lives on the property at ilberforce. and winch lias been standing for ovi' 130 years, has been demolished- Originally built with timber obtainod witbin half a mile of its,site ' tho nail* «.«"! m keeping it together were by a \V mdsor blacksmith Michael-Wl""- &° me ot these ™ > s > five and six inches, long were recently withdrawn, and were found to be as sound as tho day they were driven in. Mur-li of the timber, too, used in tU iuternal part of the .shed was thorcound after a century and a , c cprviee g°°d, in fact, quar Of the timber, that. Mr Carl Dunston a great-great-great-grandson of thl origiua' builder .removed, eomf of it to use in the' building of a garage, at his "fome in ■ Newtown, Wnidsor The build in" withstood the ravages ot ine Liuiian „ flood, which removed the great 1867 ftoo ( sTad yea« y ago the shingled sxeaci. u « barn tvns replaced by root on t' l - j the demolishes galvamsed n™v n £ n said thnfc the iron o, the old more aiter oO was worth fill lbe 110W iron of years of service mai. i modern time*

DUSTINESS CONCRETE. !

Many workshop and gaiugo users arc troubled with tho dust that arises from the concrete floor. Not only does it make tbo car or place ilusty and untidy, but, what is more important, it gets into working parts and causes undue wear. There arc several methods of proventing concrete floors from becoming dusty. Perhaps the simplest one is to spray the surface with old lubricating: oil taken from the engine crankease of tho car; this binds up the surface aii'3 koeps. the dust from forming. Another method is to brush, or spray the floor with a solution consisting of one part, by volume, of commercial hydrochloric acid, and eight parts of rain water; this forms a compound with free lime in the cement, which keeps moist and so stops dust from rising. Perhaps the best method Is to use a solution of silicate of soda, otherwise known as water-glass, in water in the proportions of lib of the former in each gallon of water. It is necessary to give the floor two of three coatings with this solution, allowing each coating to dry thoroughly before applying the next; drying takes place rather slowly. usually several days. Tho finished resuM, houever, justifies the trouble for a dustless surface — that can even be painted uoon if desired—results.—D.E., in "English Mechanic. ''

I eopie who were sheltering lroin an electrical storm under a verandah at Spring Creek, and in motor-cars purged uearb.y, had a startling espsrience when a flash of lightuinn Btruc'.i the roadway, threw up a cloud or . s ' and dazzled 'the spectators ,? blaze of lißbt"- •• (states the * ,y? i'lix>rouj»h Express"-'!.' "Hail , was Tailing at the time, and eve-witiiesses saw a vivid flash of forked lightning stride the roadway, it was accompanied by a brilliant burst of light which enveloped evervthina; in the y ' a . a re P° r fc Hke the discharge of a beary artillery piece. Investigations disclosed that'at the spot where' the road was struck the shingle ■ and a denfc two or three inches deep "and' about six #or oss. kad-b«en *jnade.