SHAVINGS

Evening Star, Issue 20720, 17 February 1931, Page 2

SHAVINGS

The office-bearers anl members of the United Congregational Church have accepted the tender of Mr A. E. Silver for the construction of the church at the corner of Albany and Castle streets. As the contract was signed in the office of the architect (Mr E.- W. Walden) yesterday morning, work will bo commenced immediately. * * * * ' A handsome two-story residence constructed on the most modern lines is being erected for Mr Isaac Stevenson at St. Leonards on the site that was formerly used as a cabaret. The Lovd Construction Company is engaged in the work, the contract for which should run into several thousand pounds. * * * * Construction work on the new boiler house and engineers’ workshops at the Dunedin Public Hospital is now completed, and efforts are being made to complete the installation of the plant and machinery. The contractors (the Love Construction Company) have still a few odds and ends to do before they finally leave the site. * * » * . Further alterations to the Otago Motor Club’s premises in Moray place are to be made immediately by Geo. Lawrence and Co., the new owner of this valuable block (Mr A. Ferguson) having decided to convert the building into a more modern one. The whole of the front is to be replastered in the latest designs, while the interior is to be converted into one large space for club rooms. To do this most of the supports will be removed, and the position of the ladies’ retiring room and the offices will also bo changed. The hall of the main entrance stairway will bo panelled in oak and stained. n * * * Actual building operations commenced a fortnight ago on the' new nurses’ home at the Pleasant Valley Sanatorium! Palmerston. The building, which is to be erected by Mr R. Mitchell, is a two-story brick one, measuring 80ft x 60U. * * * * As the new owners of the Universal buildings opposite the new Post Office site hace decided to defer their scheme of erecting a modern nine-story office structure for at least _ another two years, the existing building is at present receiving attention from the decorators. _ The brick work is being painted with red oxide and oil, while the cement facings are being treated vuth a tinted water paint made with lime, and the doors and sashes in tf» building are being painted in the fashionable colour of green.

Owing to the nature of the country construction work on the monument at Mount Puketapu in memory of Sir John M'Kenzie has been proceeding rather slowly, but the contractor (H. S. Bingham and Co.) is now well under way. The first story (16ft high) has been completed, and the _ remaining 10ft should be overtaken in the course of a few weeks. The monument is_ being constructed from stone in the vicinity, the lining being in concrete and the exterior finish being pleasingly executed in stone. Internally the structure will offer two concrete floors and an iron stairway leading to the roof, on winch a trigg station will be erected. ' * * • *

The old building once occupied by ‘ The Evening Star 5 Company is now assuming a more modern appearance. The remodelling work has kept a staff of men engaged for a considerable time, but the contractor (Wm, M ( Lellan and Co.) expects to finish very shortly. The whole of the interior has been reconstructed ■ and fitted up for commercial purposes', while modern plaster finishes have been introduced on the' front of the building, and these harmonise with the latest typo of steel-framed windows. A fine two-story residence for Mr J. Hudson, jun., on the Mount Royal estate adjoining the sanatorium at Palmerston is now receiving the finishing touches at the hands of the builders (Messrs Williams and Wiles).

An interested reader of the ‘ Home Builder ’ page forwards a letter which he has received from an engineering student in the United States. This young man is engaged in acoustical engineering work with a firm that specialises in assisting architects in the design of new buildings, and which advises in the remodelling of existing structures so that audition in all parts of the theatre, church, or auditorium will bo excellent. Another phase of his firm’s work is the quieting of noisy offices, factories, and restaurants. In connection with the last type of electrical work a commission was set up some time ago by the Health Department to study the noise in the City of New York, and to work out ways and means for abating the noise nuisance. Tins young American engineer states that. ho was fortunate enough to do considerable work in connection with the noise survey of the city which followed. A very _ interesting publication has since been issued dealing with the commission’s findings.

Delegates a£ the annual conference of the New Zealand Federated Master Painters, Decorators, and Siguwriters’ Association to he held on February 23 will be asked to consider no fewer than twenty remits from the various provincial associations throughout New Zealand. An important Auckland remit 'states:—“ That the Government be urged to reconsider its decision to exercise the right to withhold from unsuccessful tenderers the prices of successful tenders in connection with goods supplied to the State, also any contract work undertaken.” Another remit from the same guild states as follows: —“ That we view with alarm the action of the Auckland Modernising Society inasmuch as in the of the guild it is having an effect detrimental to the idea for which the said society was promoted.” » * « • At the same conference the Canterbury Association is bringing forward a suggestion that the Institute of Architects and Builders Associations be written to, pointing out the disadvantages of the use of resinous timbers for outside doors and sashes, and requesting the discontinuance of such woods, and that timbers of a non-reiinous nature be used in their place.

A small submersible floodlight projector recently introduced is applicable not alone for swimming pool applications, but in connection with fountain sprays at night. The unit is of such small size that, when installed in swimming pool which have not been provided with recesses for projectors, it does not form an obstruction -within the pool. It is 10|in in diameter, 9in deep, and weighs Islb. The casing is of cast aluminium, not subject to deterioration when submerged in water. A flexible ball and socket pipe fitting is attached to the unit, so that it can he adjusted to any required position. The optical system has lens and reflector similar to those used in standard traffic signals, giving a fan-shaped distribution of light, particularly suited for swimming pools.

The coating of concrete with metal by the Schoop process is said to have been successfully demonstrated. In a recent issue of the ‘ Stone Trade Journal * further light is thrown _on the subject. As described, particles of molten metal are shot from a , pistol ’ under the impulse of high-pressure air, tending to fill up the pores and the surface irregularities of the concrete, thus firmly binding the metallic covering to the underlying mass. Any metal may be used, it is claimed, but lead recommends itself for concrete and brickwork because of its toughness and weathering qualities. While designed primarily to protect masonry against the harmful effects _of exposure, the inner surfaces of basins, reservoirs, tunnels, and the like can be h nc d. m this fabion, it is asserted, to make them impermeable to and proof against the erosive action of water. A practical worker, it is claimed, can satifactonly coat forty-three square feet of surface in an # * *

A young engineer in the Isle of Man built a wonderful water wheel m 1654 to work the pumps of the lead mines of Lasey, eight miles from Douglas. It turned out to be the largest water wheel in the world, 226 ft in circumference, with forty-eight spokes and 18b buckets. Water from the hills above Lasey drove this giant wheel, which made two revolutions a minute, and pumped water from the mines I,Booft below the surface of the earth. Water not only drove the wheel, but water has destroyed it, for'ihe heavy floods in the Isle of Man not long ago have so damaged this fatuous wheel that it is feiirbcl that it will never work again.