A WARNING TO AMATEUR ARCHTECTS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 10236, 2 July 1883, Page 2

A WARNING TO AMATEUR ARCHTECTS.

» Lieutenant-Colonel Soidon, E.E., has sent to the Homo Office a report of his inquiry into the causes of ths Bradford chimney disaster, by which in December last fifty- four lives were lost and a great number of workpeople iv jured. He fiuds that the design of the chimney was radically bid, and the fact that the foundation had not given way was to be attributed more to the soundness of the shale formation through which the concrete piers were sunk than to the efficiency of those supports. Aftei the chimney uuderwent the pro3es3 of being straightened, the only wonder was that the chimaey survived f.>r twentj years. The leaning of the structure, however, and the cracks and bulges which appsared iv the shaft would not be sufficient of Lheniselves to came ipprehension of immediate danger in a Hstriet where large chimneys are mort or less cracked, and many considerably out of plumb. Had the straightening not taken place, so bad was the desigr that the chimney would sooner or later have fallen if it had not been taken down. Lieutenant - Colonel Seddon -I'lds, with reference to the designing oi thestructure by thelate Sir Henry ßiplef •■he owner, during his lifetime : — " Thj fall of this chimney ought to be a warne lug to anyone who, dispensing with oroper professional advice, takes upon himself the responsibility of carrying out work upon the safety of which the lives of so many may depand. Here we have a solf- constituted architect aud •'.ngineer, with a thoroughly bad design to begin with, weakening the structure 5 by inserting recessed panels all the v.iy up, and that in. spite of the advice > )f his builder."