NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 January 1930, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL.

\ £230,000 FOR TWO JOBS. LONDON, October 25. Mr Frederick Palmer, the engineer who is to supervise the construction >f the new Charing Cross Bridge and the reconditioning of Waterloo , Bridge, will beceivo'’ commissions iniounting to more than £230,000. This probably constitutes a record . • in commissions granted to a British engineer oil two undertakings " Kirin a few weeks of each other. The reconditioning of Waterloo Bridge is estimated to cost £946,(K>0 jf which Mr Palmer will receive 5 .per cent or £47,3C0. The Charing Cross scheme will cost £12,500,000. Mr Palmer’s commission on this undertaking is 5 per cent on the first £1,000,000 and 41 per cent on the remainder of the total cost of the engineering works in connection with, the scheme. Air Palmer, whose first appoint-, ment was that' of pupil on the Great Western Railway, is 68. He was '’ •liief engineer of the Calcutta Commission,' and later became ch-ef; engineer of the Port of London Au- { thority. £3,000 A YEAR FLATS. RUSH FROM MANSIONS TO ; LUXURY SUITES. • 1 LONDON,, October 25. ' 7 - One of the most remarkable of i ec-, cut London developments has been the enormous rise in site values' brought, about by the erection °f ', great blocks of luxury flats. jfc. lgacLing West End estate agent estimate u ’" ed yesterday that during the last two or three years such erections laid added more than £10,000,000 to the ground valuation of sites within a mile of Piccadilly. There are now nearly 10,00 flats in that area, ranging from bachelor “snuggeries” with one bed-sitting- >! room and a bathroom at rentals of £250 a year to sumptuous suites with three reception rooms, five bedrooms,, luxurious bathrooms and other accommodation costing £3,000 a year. While many of these dwellings of, the new London have displaced historic homes, others are spring un ;n centres where formerly there were only unpretentious shops and dingy offices.