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Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18525, 29 October 1925, Page 4

NOTES.

There was a general expression of opinion at yesterday's meeting of the North Canterbury Hospital Board that the construction of a new Nurses' Home should be proceeded with at an early date. The chairman (Mr H. JOtley) remarked that the Board should go ahead with the project, regardless of criticism from outsiders. Tenders aro being invited until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3rd, by Mr 11. Lo veil-Smith, for additions to a residence at Fendalton. Messrs Ellis and Hall have recently accepted tenders for the following works:—Two-storey house, Holmwood road, Fendalton (in! conjunction with Messrs Tuniiiull and Rule, Architects), contractor, 11. G. Graveston • brick fencing, >St. Luke's School Rooms, contractors, Head and Webb; extensions to store, Casliel street, contractor, I<\ E. Shaw; two-storey house, Onavfa, contractor, J. L. twostorev house, Glandovey road, fendalton, contractor, • Alex. Bryan. Messrs J. S and M. J. Guthrie are inviting tenders day for the erection of a concrete office building' at Kaiapoi for tho Waimakariri Harbour Board. The Finauco Committee of the Canterbury Hospital Board, at yesterday's meeting of the Board, reported that it had approved plans for tho alterations to the Waikari Hospital, the estimated cost of which was £6OO. The Board approved this expenditure. Any evidences of the old Roman Empire appeal to people and the recent excavations in Libya will excite considerable interest.. This portion-of the great African Continent was the one which, was probably most colonised by the Romans. The excavations at Leptis Magna have revealed the ruins of an ancient city, with the therm® and other structures ; and a statue of Apollo is amongst the relics discovered in the baths. Definite evidence of self-healing on the part of concrete has just been obtained by Professor Dufi A. Abrarns, at Lewis Institute, Chicago, "U.S.A. Tests which have just been completed by him. on a number of concrete cylinders which were cracked eight years ago and have sinco remained exposed to the weather, prove that time not only adds to the strength of concrete, but also actually repairs its' wounds. Tho cracks wero made in 1917 by applving an averago pressure of 27001b per square inch. During the past few vyteks tho cylinders were carefully examiucd, find it was then found that practically all tho cracks had disappeared. When re-tested, the cylinders withstood a pressure exceeding two and a half tons per squaro inch. In tho caso of a bridge which had been subjected to an excessive load certain fino cracks which appeared were carefully mapped i and photographed. A year later, when the bridge was again overloaded,, it was found that the old cracks did not reopen, hut that new cracks .were formed by the great strain. Professor Abrams suggests that the healing of the crack forms a joint, stronger than the unbroken concrete. Mr Ramsay MacDonold, M.P., opening the exhibition of the Liverpool School of Architecture, said he represented that section of democracy which hungered and thirsted after spiritual peace and beauty. As a background to their 'work and agitations there was that beauty iti form and in life which the Liverpool School of Architecture was doing so much to embody for the whole of tho kingdom. Architecture was .to town dwellers the most intimato of all the arts. His streets, his houses, .his factories never changed. If they wanted to surround their people with ''influences that compelled them to look upwards, they must put beauty into their streets and inspiration, into , their houses. It was not man's bedy that" required habitation, but man's mind .and soul. The architect was not doing his duty by simply providing I shelter. Tho training of the architect did. not end with a knowledge of tho composition of bricks and stone; it must be a training to grasp the life and spirit of art. No man could build a house for man unless he understood man. It was a profound mistako for tho architect to imagine that when he was engaged in tho production of small domestic architecture he had not the same ohajico as if he were planning a. great town hall. His problem was not that of putting nice little decorations on nice little houses,! whero nice littlo people might come to dwell. Domestic architecture should consist in embodying the communal spirit. Tho day was coming ■when architects would know their business, and in order that j they might know it the public should 1 give thorn sufficient encouragement., j