NOTES.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18027, 20 March 1924, Page 4

NOTES.

(Br Builder.)

"Builder" invites contributions from readers on any matter of interest which they might like to propose. Correspondence on subjects of interest will also bo accepted.

Tenders will be received up till noon on Tuesday, April Ist, for the erection of a police station at Leeston. Drawings and specifications may be seen at Ihe Public Works Ofliee at Leeston Post Office.

Tho secretary of the Public 'Works Tenders Board, AVellington. invites tenders up till noon on Tuesday, April Ist, for tho erection in concrete of attendants' quarters at the 6unnysidc Mental Hospital. Drawings and specifications may bo seen at the Public Works Office, Christchureh. Messrs England Bros, are inviting tenders until 1 p.m. to-morrow for the election of a brick residence in i'apanui road, Tho Prebblcton Hall and Library Committee aro calling lor tenders tor painting the Prebblcton hull unci' library. Tenders will bo reoeircd until 4 p.m. on Friday, March ißth, by. . Messrs Collins and Harman for additions and alterations to a house in Dyer's Pass road, Cashmere. At Glasgow proposals have been sanctioned for an extension scheme in connexion with the Royal Samaritan Hospital for Women to cost £4.7,000, and arising out of the improvements ut Glasgow Cross by. the City Corporation for tho erection of a building of five stories and a basement estimated to cost £37,000. Sir W. Joynspn-Hicks, M.P., the former British Minister of Health, at a recent meeting of the Plumbers' Company, paid a deserved tribute to tho works of tho Company in promoting public health. He pointed out that it had raised plumbing to a fine art. He might have, gone further and included the architect and the builder among the foroes making for g<x)d health. If <md when they do their best work, the building confraternity, it may fairly be argued, does os much as the medical ]>rofession in the interests cf health. This work is not tho le«S honourable liecause it is concerned "vfitli pretention rather than euro. Tho trouble is that social cot ditions do not yet allow architects and builders to do all they ootild do and would gladly go to produce and maintain satisfactory sanitary conditions for all chisSCs of the population. As tho present month continues, evidence that the building trade is slackening off preparatory to renewed activity at tho commencement of the new financial year, is becoming more and more manifest. So far only 35 building permits have been Issued by the Christchureh City Council to date, and tho majority of these are but for smaller class jobs, although one or two lafge dwellings hare been commenced. Mr J. Hammett has received tlte con- ! tract -for additions to the Canterbury i College Hostel in Rolleston avenue.

Mr W. J: Hinkey is making good progress with the work of additions to the Public Library. 'Che roof of the new portion of the building is now being put on, and the floors ar© being constructed.

Messrs B. Mooro and Son hare finished the glaring work on their Winter ' Gardens contract. The outsido plastering has also been completed and plaster work is being carried out on tho ceiling of the promenade. The heating system for the hot-houses has also been completed and the contractor is now installing the opening and shutting appliances for the fan-fights, and the lantern light.

Ever since Westland was inhabited — .uid it has just celebrated its Diamond Jubilee—the use of tar has been a feature of tho district, says a trade paper. Tarred house and verandah roofs aro to bo seen everywhere, giving tho various townships "a rather unsightly appearance. During the past year or two, however, people aro finding time to give their (esthetic taste a chanco, and the result is a gradu-ally-increasing agitation with a view to replacing tar with paint. The Greymouth Ratepayers' Association and Borough Council have taken tho matter up, and are requesting owners of property to utilise paint instead of tar. A strong argument in favour of tar is that it can be bought for sixpence per gallon, but against this is tho extra charge made for working tar compared with paint, owing to the dirty nature of the job, and there is no doubt that paint gives a much better appearance to buildings.

After engaging a paperiianger to put on earefuilv-selectcd papers, a householder at Grevmouth was greatly disappointed a little time afterwards to notice greaso splits all over the new papers. A friend of the family, a builder, was consulted, and he diagnosed tho trouble as due to tho fact that the scrim used on the walls had not previously been boiled. The moral would appear, when having the house papered, to specify boiled scrim only.

'•Good timber spoilt." was the comment of n witness in the Auckland Supreme Court when describing a farmhouse at Putaruru. He would not, he sfi.id, call it a house, but just a building. and it would seem as if the only tools used in its construction were a saw, an axe, and a hammer. Tho doors were put on with lead-headed nails, and an axe had been used to chop away part of the timber so that the door handle could be turned, reports the ;i \ew Zealand Herald.'' Mr Justice Herd man dryly asked if the house had any other peculiarities, and the witness, in reply, dealt with the conditions of the bathroom and washhouse, concluding with the remark that the work had evidently been done by a bush carpenter.