STONE-LAYING IN MID-AIR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 225, 16 June 1908, Page 10

STONE-LAYING IN MID-AIR.

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY'S NOVEL EXPERIENCE. In a gale of wind; and at a height of 250 ft,, the Archbishop of Canterbury and his.wifo on Saturday (April IS) performed a remark- ■ able ceremony. On Hi" t"« ~f th" R- 1 ' Tower of Canterbury Cathedral the Primato laid the final stoae of the pinnacle aim;.u.i,s. Davidson fixed tho vane. .The ceremony marked the completion of : the work of restoring tho town- and spires of the cathedral. Tho work, which has been in hand for between three and four years, has involved an expenditure of C14.53-I. It ig calculated that about twenty miles of scaf- I folding were used, and it is a remarkable fact that during the; whole of the operations . not a single accident occurred.' Tho ceremony took placc on about six square yards of scaffolding, on which' fewer than a dozen people stood, and which swayed about with the force of the wind. Taking a trowel, the Archbishop laid the cement on tho base of tho coping, embedded a tubo containing a record, ol tho event, and then, with an appropriate prayer, declared the stone "well and truly laid." Tho interesting ceremony concluded by the Primate's wife mounting a short ladder and fixing the vano in position on the top of tho ' pinnacle.