SHOULD BE REMOVED

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 68, 13 December 1932, Page 5

SHOULD BE REMOVED

Town Hall Clock Tower EARTHQUAKE PRECAUTION No doubt exists in the minds of those with expert knowledge, and these Include the City Engineer, and several well-known architects, that it would be in the interest of. safety to have the tower of the Town, Hall removed iii? view of the • possibility of, future earthquakes. It has been computed that the ■ weight of masonry, metal, etc., in the tower above the roof level is about 1.000 tons, and that if such a mass toppled as the result of a big shake, such as those within easy memory, the chances are that it would fall inward, which would mean that the tower would probably crash through the roof of the main Town Hall. The weight of the tower is carried by the outer and internal walls on either side of the main entrance, while the horizontal steel girders, which run in at right angles from Cuba Street, are carried through so as to rest upon the stout columns at the foot of the main stairway, which rise to the roof of the first floor. These girders, running, through from -’the Cuba Street front of the building, extend westward of the main tower structure, also sustain the weight of the central section of the second floor (on a level with the gallery of the Concert Chamber), but the main weight to be borne is directly under the tower, the apex of which is 177 feet above the footpath. There are without doubt evidences of earthquake strain in the structure in the vicinity of the main stairway in sundry cracks in the walls aud stairway itself, which are believed to indicate the effect of slight sway set up in the tower aud building by various eartli jolts In the past. The Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, is fully, aware of the position, and has only been deterred from taking definite action by the cost of the undertaking and the low state of the municipal treasury. Plans have been prepared by the architects referred to, and one Of these, which provides for the building of a stump tower, has been tentatively approved. There the matter rests, apparently until the City Council can raise the money to have the job done.