REMOVING THE BELLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 238, 7 October 1932, Page 8

REMOVING THE BELLS.

DIFFICULT WORK ON SCAFFOLD. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) GISBORNE, this day. Gisborne's clock tower has ceased to exist, the work of demolishing it having been, practically completed. Reliable calculation shows that the weight of masonry in the tower above the parapet line, tpgether with the clock mechanism, was 52 tons, a fact which accounts no doubt for the collapse that was apparent after the severe earthquake. Yesterday afternoon the contractors commenced the somewhat difficult task of removing the bell 6 of the clock itself. A start was made on the smallest one, weighing 2001b. The weight itself proved no trouble to the contractors, but the bell itself was extremely awkward to handle on overhead scaffolding. Greater complications are in prospect to-day, however, when the heavier bells are tackled, the largest of these weighing 7001b. On each bell the name of the founders, John Tay and Company, Lon[don, is inscribed.