THE ACCIDENT IN THE CUTTING.

Evening Star, Issue 3328, 20 October 1873, Page 3

THE ACCIDENT IN THE CUTTING.

To the Editor, Fm, —With regard to the City Fngiuerr’s report to tho City Council touching the falling of tho scaffolding at Thomson, Strang, and Co.’s building, he seems to have assumed that the work, according to the plan, showed sufficient strength to answer fhc purpose ; and he leaves the public to infer that the fault (if any) lay with the builders. And in proof of his opinion he refers to the experimental cornice erected at the Corporation store, which, he said, stood the required tost. He is reported to have said that it required a weight of 561bs on the outermost projection of the cornice to bring the whole mass over. soyy, air, with all due respect to him as a professional man, I beg to contradict this part of his report. I was an eyewitness of the so-called experiment, and instead of the weight he says being applied, there were five bricks placed upon the edge of the cornice, and on a sixth one being placed upon them, the whole fabric toppled over. This fact spsaks f>r itself, even supposing it stood the test. He asserts it cannot be said to be a fair comparison, as an experimental cornice only eighteen inches in height could not be susceptible to any vibration such as the one on Thomson and Strang’s would be subject to on account of heavy vehicles passing under it in a crowded thoroughfare like Princes street. I do not offer any opinion as to whom the blame is attributable to ; but 1 do think that the architects of a building should be re sponsible for the stability of all work done under their supervision, and carried out according to their plans. It appears that the cornice in question was so treated. With regard to the assumption that the scaffolding was insecure. It is certainly not the opinion of those who had to risk their lives on such erections, for it differed nothing from the usual kind which aro used by plasterers. The fact of it being (to weak too withstand the pressure brought to bear upon it by the falling of tons of brickwork is no proof that the contractors or workmen are to blame for doing the work according to the innal injunctions—viz., according to plans and epecificationf and the entire satisfaction of the architects.—l am, &c., T. Hannagan. Dunedin, October 18.