LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 224, 16 June 1920, Page 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

. s WHY A' BRICIv SAVED IS A BRICK GAINED. Sir,—Your sapient reporter is eminently correct: "there aro several ways r of felling tall chimney stacks expeditiously." Ho might have added, "and each way involves the destruction of a largo proportion of tho bricks in the stack." At the nresenj; time bricks, even sec-ond-hand bricks, are valuable, and avo selling at' a remunerative price. Wo liavo n good sale for every brick wo-oan save from tlmt chimney, and in addition we requiro quito a largo number for buildi ing a brick kiln and another chimnoy stack elsewhere so that wo can continuo the manufacture of bricks in a bettor location with as little delay as possible. Tho reason that tliß prisoners engngwl upon tho work of dismantling are: picking off the bricks one bv one and throwing them to tho ground is that a number of the topmost layers of bricko of which thfc) stack is built are cemented together, and can only be separated with some trouble. As tho cement adheres too, closely to the bricks for removal, thoy are of no further use, so are thrown to tho ground as stated. When tho first few layers of bricks aro removed tho remainder, which are sot in ordinary mortar, will bo lowered in baskets or crates, and after cleaning will bo available for further use. This method of demolishing a chimnoy stack is certainly slow, but with bricks at their present prico it pays the Prisons Department very .well. The bricks that would bo smashed in "felling" tho. chimney will bo saved and ivijlnet Uw Department at least an. additional —I am, eto., A. E. MATTHEWS, Controller-General pf Prisons. June 18, 1920.