ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.

Press, 1 February 1930, Page 9

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.

COMPLETION OF RESTORATION WORK.

(from our own correspondent.)

LONDON, December 23. The King and Queen and leading men of the Church and nation will take part in a service on June 2oth next, when St. Paul's Cathedral will be fully restored to public worship. Many Anglican Bishops will be in London at the time, for the Lambeth Conference. It is nearly five years since the dome was closed, and nearly seventeen years since the repairs now reaching their conclusion were started. To all outward appearance the great church will be as it always has been. The work carried out includes the restoration of tho lantern and the two southern transept piers, the strengthening of the buttresses, and the fitting of the eight piers which carry the dome with reinforced concrete, . besides many other minor but highly important details. For not a single day since the work was started in 1913 has it been stopped. Money has come from every part of the Empire, and when he last appealed for funds Canon Alexander (treasurer of St. Paul's) received £250,000 when he had aeked for only £140,000. Altogether more than £400,000 has been given.

The groining of the piers has been done under pressure. Wren's method was to fill the outer facings of the piers (about,3in thick) with rubble, and for this purpose he used fragments of the old cathedral which was destroyed in the Great Fire. In the course of years this filling had sunk to the bottom, leaving the upper portions of the piers hollow. The marvel is that they '■ontinued 'o carry the immense weight of nearly 68,000 tons which mainly reposes on them. The Cathedral is now regarded as safe for centuries to come, provided no disturbances occur in the nighbourhond oF the foundations, which are only 3* feet below the floor of the crypt. Excavations in the region would again imperil the safety of the building:. In the words of the expert committee of architects and engineers "building operations in the vicinity or the Cathedral might alter the condition of the subsoil with disastrous results."