CHURCH REPAIRS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 283, 25 July 1932, Page 8

CHURCH REPAIRS

SHODDY WORK IN RESTORATION OF GREAT ENGLISH CATHEDRAL. BROWN PAPER USED. The discovery that brown paper had been used to cover holes in the ceiling of the Cathedral of Peterborough, England, aud then whitewashed over to avoid deteetion, has been made during recent repairs to the fabric. The deception, which is descrihed as an example of the lengths to which shoddy work can go, is thought to 1 have been perpetrated during the r>estoration in the last century. The culprits are, therefore, beyond the consequenees of their crime, but the present generation has to pay for it at a time when many other parts of the structure need attention. I The floor of the south transept, for J example, is in such' a dangerous state that fears are entertained lest it may . fall on the Saxon church helow, and ornamented battlements are perishing. The eastern chapel roof is already under repair. During the last 50 years repairs to the Cathedral, which dates back to the 12th century, have cost over £100,000, and the dean, Dr. Simpson, reeently stated that it seemed as though a body of workmen would have to be permanentily attached to every Cathedral, since, during his 17 years at St. Paul's he never remembered the cathedral being free from seaffolding. The death watch beetle, against which was has been waged at Peterborough for many years, appears at last to have been conquered — by concrete — the few survivors having been sent to the Government laboratories at Princes Rishorough'. The only danger, according to the dean, is that a bettle may he evolved which is capable of dealing with concrete.