BUILDING LESSONS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20181, 9 March 1931, Page 16

BUILDING LESSONS.

TO THZ BDITOB OF THU P&XB9. Sir,—l agree with Professor J. J5.. L. Cull - that .the ~ architects . and builders should visit Napier'and Hastings,' if possible, although I am of the opinion that it is somewhat late iis the day. In another'fortnight the-busi-ness portion of Napier will be as' flat as a pancake. It would.be interesting if Professor Cull would give us a* w port.'No doubt he has reported-to .the Government, and Ifis report will be reteased later: but there is a danger that we shall all build up wrong ideas, based on impressions received while the bhock of the calamity is on us. | For instance, at one -time I sawthe' action of a hurricane, when it cut a i lane and brought everything down in that- track. Outside the track everything stood unaffected." One would have been wrong to - have said - that buildings *>n that- hi no were wrongly I oonstructcd. The earthquake at Norpier played some funny tricks. It'ap« i fieared not to have taken a straight i ine, ~sbut to have been influenced by tfae reclaimed-' or spongy land on the south side of the town. It would be wrong to' generalise about .Napier. For instance, 1 saw concrete chimneys in workers' homes that had oome down in three chunks and caused a lot of damage. At the front doors of hundreds of homes there was a pile of bricks that was almost 'clean enough to be built in again. Looking to the roqf, little or' no daiqpge hjfd/ been done. So I would lean to'bricks for chimney work. Bus I may be wrong. Up on the north end of the hill top. the earthquake again played some i'unny tricks —if one may.use the-word "funny.". I saw cottages there ihat had til6d roofs. Those roofs had, sat right down on the floor space as if the studs had been driven straight down r into the earth like piles. I would not have » tiled roof on the ordinary studs in a home I was to occupy. But again 'that may bo wrong. The Nurses' Home < cu me down almost in its own floor space. Why? The . strangest joke; played on any section was that of the Fire Brigade Station. Thatis a brick building, and the inside was completely . burnt out; but except for a few cracks j that the 'firs «ould jliave caused, the i brickwork stands almost complete. We i in Christchtirch have been taking out! fronts of the ground floor of< buildings I to put in shop fronts, a reinforced I concrote- Dearer being put in to take I tho weight. In Napier I saw the'same : thing, where the block had just' fallen straight out, and woe' betide anyone | -it hit. -There are a thousand'•points in Napier that seem to the layman ] one contradictory of Just as < one had formed a conclusion and moved on. the nest, street in the opposite directiou jvould shake vthe previous conclusion. Again J am of the opijnion that it would be wrong to generalise about results." ,\Ve must await -thereports of our experts. Again, from a layman's point of view, no other,town in New Zealand would -have suffered hs, Napier suffered,,not because it "was badly built or had congested streets—that is for the experts to say—but because of the peculiar formation of .the land. Napier was built on a peninsula,, having a solid-hill at the north end.'' The business premises were bnilt 'at the toot of this hill, eioeeupw Behind

this part, to the %6uth, was » mass of reclaimed land bordered by a river. The push seems to have come from the north and east. The reclaimed and spongy land gave way »_ and then the shake- did the refit. The north end of the. peninsula is said to he seven feet higher than- before. Certainly there has been a 'lot of land reclaimed at that end; However, we -must wait for our experts' reports befor© jumping to a conclusion. Our sympathies i are with those who • have suffered in mind, body, or' estate as a result of the calamity.—Yours, etc., A ,E. J. HOWARD. March 7th, 1931. .