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Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18922, 10 February 1927, Page 4

(By ''Builder. 1 ') '•Builder' invites contributions from renders on any matters of interest which they might like to propose. Correspondence on various subjects pertaining to building will also be accepted.

NOTES. .Air W. 11. Winsor. secretary of the Canterbury Builders' Association, leaves this morning for (ircymoiith. Ten workmen's houses are to be built in Grcyniouth for Government employees. A property situated in George street,between Hunter street and Martin place, Sydney, with a frontage of 20 feet, wns sold recently at k'JOW.) per foot. The building trado is very quiet in the outlying suburbs. Duly four permit:* were issued by the Sninner Borough Council in January, two being for houses. The Heathcotc County Council has issued a permit for a house in Itapaki street, St. Martins, to cost £2580.'

It is reliably estimated that the value of new factories to be erected this year in the Auburn, Granville, and Parramatta industrial district will be about £'1,500,000. This is a wonderful leap forward on the part of local enterprise, mid points to the day when Australia will bo practically independent of importations, so far as manufactures are concerned. Among the new industries which are to bo estabished in the area mentioned, are the GnoJycar Tyre ami Rubber Co., the Cream of Tartar Co., Carmichael's Bath, Copper, and Stove Co., and the Commonwealth Oil Refineries. Others already there nre being extended to cope with growing business, and in all it is forecasted that the number of workers will be increased by 4000, making a total of close on 10,000.—Sydney "Sun."

•The report of the Royal Commission on Cross-river Traffic in London, of which Lord Lee of Fnreham is chairman, was issued recently, and recommends:—The retention and widening of Waterloo bridge, with a 35ft roadway, a combined road and footway from Southwark street to Hnlborn Viaduct; a new double-deck bridge at Charing Cross, with the erection of- n new Charing Cross Station, and a continuation of the bridge over the Strand to the Nurse Cavell statue in St. Mnr*tin's place; abandonment of the St. Paul's bridge proposals; removal of the hay market, Whitechapel, High street; rebuilding of Wandsworth bridgo; widening of Putney and Hammersmith bridges; two new bridges near Dorset wharf and Chiswick ferry respectively, for western exits, the Dorset wharf bridge to be connected with Cromwell road by a new road and bridge over the railway; adoption of the DartfordPurfleet tunnel schemo; an improvement to existing tunnels; a central authority for dealing with bridges and cross-river traffic. The whole programme would involve an expenditure approximating £27,500,000.

The higgest oak now standing in Great Britain is the "Champion" oak at Powis Castle, Welshpool. According to measurements communicated by Mr J. Edmunds, agent to the Powis Castle Estate to the Royal English Agricultural Society i" 1925, this tree .stands 105 ft high, lta« a girth of 24ft. and contnins 2062 cubic feet of timber. Its ace has been estimated nt 600 years. A ioliago specimen sent to, the British Government by the forester. Mr J. W. Landers, shows that the "Champion" oak is a hybrid between the common oak (Quercus Robur) and the durmast oak (Q. sessiliflora). TJ5e "giant" oak, also at Powis Castle, stands 92ft high and has a girth of 31ftfbut it is partly hollow. It has. however, been cleaned out and the holes filled with concrete, so that wo hope that this fine natural monument will long lie preserved. Numerous other fine oaks and remarlcablo trees of various kinds also to bo found at Powis Castle testify to the favourable conditions for tree growth which exist in Wales.