The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11th, 1923 AN EMPIRE TREASURE

Hokitika Guardian, 11 February 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11th, 1923 AN EMPIRE TREASURE

Tm; cable contains many references te the stability ,mul .security <>| Si. Ibitil s Cathedral. London. Tlu\ hisfurie edifice, may be regarded as an I'.ml'ii'e treasure, and all tire interested in its perpetuation. A colonist never visits London without going to St. Paul’s. No view of London would he complete without a glimpse of .St. Paul’s dome dominating the surroundings. That it escaped the nefarious work of the Hun when engaged in bombing Landau was a mercy and a blessing which all the world will be thankful for. Now time .seems to be attacking Wren’s great masterpiece and an outstanding idol of the Empire. It should be saved for now and all time. A definite movement in that direction has been undertaken and no doubt all parts of the Empi:Vj ui.ll be participating financially in the desire to seen so noble a land mark saved for all time. Exploits have discussed the position from time to time and the following particulars give in outline an interesting record of the stability of the great structure, and the causes of the. weakness which is now manifesting itself to tlie concern of all. A minute examination of St. Paul’s Cathedral was made bv leading architects in 1912, and their rc- „ port brought before tbe Cathedral Chapiter, a task of immense magnitude. This was nothing less than restoration of the whole central structure. Certain work was commenced within the cathedral and carried on continuously during the war, so urgent was it considered to he that restoration should not he delayed. The chief defects met with were due in part to the indifferent quality of tile work done hv earlier repairers, to the degeneration of age and to certain troubles dating hack to the days of original building. The work proved to be only an instalment of what was needed. Writing in “The Times” in February, 1919, Mr Morvyn K. Macartney, one of the most eminent architects said:-—‘'The fears of those experts who were of opinion a few years ago that a very great taskawaited the repairers have been more than justified during the progress of the work performed while the war was proceeding. The south transept has been found to he in so shattered a condition that cement used to strengthen and solidify the walls has found its way in several eases out into the street. The south-west pier has had to he practically rebuilt.” Work has been in progress since, especially on the piers carrying the great dome, and in July. 1922, a further appeal was made for funds. On that occasion Canon Alexander (the Cathedral treasurer) said that the latest investigations had been gravely disturbing. Siiuc then there has lieen further investigation. They are even more disturbing still. The root trouble of St. Paul’s is in the foundations carrying the great dome. This vast superstructure is carried upon eight piers. Wren had at times severely criticised ! the methods of mediaeval architects, hut for reasons which may or may not he explained—and in any case are but academic—he followed their system in the construction of these piers, that is. facings of wrought stone wore filled with rubble in lime mortar. The natural result followed. The core of nibble and lime contracted as it dried, and was compressed by the increasing weight of a super-stnicture weighing many thousands of tons, thus throwing undue strain upon the casings. Wren is said to have been aware that the substratum on which the Cathedral was to rest left much to lie desired, but was probably to some extent mistaken in his estimate thereof. He certainly took all the precautions that were known or practised in his day.

Passing through surface debris to a depth of fifteen feet, he found a layer of clay varying from four feet to six feet in thickness superimposed upon a stratum of sand mixed with gravel, the lower part of which was wet. Below this at thirty-five feet lies the “London clay.” "Wil-h this position before him lie decided to float his building on the bed of upper clay, little dreaming of the attacks which would he made in years to come upon the sand snlj-stratuni under the “pot earth” by the progress of sanitation and railway engineering, and consequential alteration in the water-bearing condi-