REPAIRING ST. PAUL'S.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 104, 4 May 1929, Page 11

REPAIRING ST. PAUL'S.

PARISH CHURCH OF EMPIRE.

£154,000 SPENT TO DATE

Particulars of the work of repairing St. Paul's Cathedral, London, affectionately termed by Anglicans, ''The Parish Church of the Empire," are given in a recent number of "The Church Times" (London).

During the last seven and a-half months steady progress has been made, according to a report submitted by the Cathedral Works Committee. The cementation of the whole of the eight main piers supporting the dome structure has been finished, and the reinforcement with non-rusting steel bars has also been completed. Over 2.50 bars, varying in length from seven feet to IS feet, have been used in each pier.

The work of repairing the ashlar facing of the choir piers has made considerable progress, and re-erection of the organ and its casing could begin almost immediately; but it is not considered advisable to expose the delicate machinery of the organ to the effects of dust, and this part of the work will therefore l« deferred until the completion of other work in the dome area. More than 150 old iron cramps in this ashlar facing, which caused so much damage in the past, have been removed, and nearly 600 new ones of non-rusting metal substituted. Progress has also been made with the re-erection of the stalls and galleries adjacent to the choir-piers, and the reinstatement of monuments against other main piers, particularly in the south transept, has been begun.

Good progress has also been made with the system of bracing between the inner and outer drums from the level of the Whispering Gallery upwards. The expenditure on the preservation work generally by the Works Committee since the date of the last report is about £32,700, making, with what has been ipreviouslv expended, a total to date of £154,000.*

In view of the present rate of progress it is confidently expected that it will be possible to have the whole of the Cathedral available for services in 'time for the Lambeth Conference in the summer of 1930.