News and Notes

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 53, 25 May 1927, Page 12

News and Notes

A neW era in town planning in Melbourne is being marked by the erection of 72 workers’ homes at Fishermen’s Bend, Port Melbourne. The houses are built in pairs, and the approximate cost of each of £B9B. Copper is a favourite metal for exterior lighting fixtures such as porch lanterns, entrance lights and exterior garage lights because of it well-known ability to withstand the detructive action of snow, sleet and rain. When exposed to these elements, copper takes on a protective green coating which is an added charm. * * * While there was hardly a roof in Sydney which did not leak under the pressure of the recent cyclonic storm,' it was the “jerry-built” houses prettily finished off that suffered most. The storm was the acid-test of sound workmanship.

“There are no wheelbarrows in the building trade in Rangoon,” said Mr. J. H. Hutchinson, in an address to the Rotary Club yesterday. “Chinese carpenters and labourers carry the bricks and mortar in baskets on their heads. One contractor had a half-million contract to put up red brick cantonments for the troops, and all the workmen 'were Chinese. Last year the building trade in Wellington reached its highest point of prosperity, but Auckland is running the capital city close. This may be seen by the following figures of values of permits issued since 1922: Auckland Wellington City. City. 1922-23 1,180,473 929,639 ,1923-24 1,431,264 1,361,584 !1924-25 1,575,377 1,060,137 3925-26 1.567,958 1,926,832 1926-277 .. .. 1,567,152 2,031,994 Totals .. .. £7,322,224 £7,301,186 * * * Something novel in the way of brick treatment, and a feature that has a lot to commend it, originates from Auckland. It is a concrete brick faced with a coloured waterproof substance, 'which, the manufacturers claim, can 'be turned out in any of 170 different shades. If it is capable of standing up to the claims the makers credit it with as regards practical constructional purposes, the fact of it being waterproof will give it an advantage over the use of the ordinary clay brick.

A novel and attractive decoration for a sitting-room window-sill is a gay cut-out freize picturing bright red and yellow tulips rising up from vivid green grass. The flowers are drawn on a sheet of three-ply wood, after which the shapes are cut out with a fret-saw and painted with enamel. The frieze is kept upright by being glued on to a flat strip of wood which acts as a stand.