TOKIO AFTER THE ’QUAKE

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 May 1929, Page 5

TOKIO AFTER THE ’QUAKE

GREAT RECONSTRUCTION WORK. An interesting description of the Japanese capital and. the great reconstruction work done since the big earthquake was given by Mr P. C. Watt in his address at the Wellington Rotary Club. “Tokio (said Mr Watt) is a wonderful city, with a population of about 2,000,000. It is’the sixth largest city in the world, and possesses, in addition to its Imperial Museum, Music Academy and College of Fine Arts, an Imperial University which is the highest educational institution in the Orient. The reconstruction work done since the earthquake disaster of 1923 is scarcely credible. One saw

large buildings erected and improvements going on in every direction. In some parts they have difficult ground to build on. The foundations for a new building were being put down alongside the Imperial Hotel, and four piledriving machines were in operation. The whole site had been excavated to a depth of 14 feet, and steel sheet-pil-

ing driven all round the outsides. The piles for the foundations were about 70 or 80 feet long ; and, to give an idea of the nature of the ground, When the weight of the four-ton hammer used for pile-driving was placed on top it pushed the pile right down out of sight into the ground. They had to drive another pile 20 or 30 feet long on top of that to reach the solid. When finished the whole area would be a

cluster of piles, with a thick floor of

concrete over all, and the building would be erected on that. This is called a ‘floating’ or ‘raft’ foundation. “That is the nature of the ground that the Imperial Hotel, the beautiful and extraordinary building designed and built by Mr Wright, a Californian architect, is erected on. It cost an enormous amount of money, and the company discharged him when it was half finished. . He told them that in 20 or 25 years time it would come to its own. Wright went away to America and took all Ihis plans and drawings with "him; but later they had to send for him to come back, because no one else could finish the job. The design appears to be a mixture of Moorish, Javanese, and any other architecture you like to think of. 'When you enter the main l(ounge. looking upwards it is terraced all the way with stone stairs leading up, and

platforms about six inches thick hanging away out six or eight feet wide, with a balustrading stone-work band along the front, giving the appearance of no support to hold it in position. It is all natural stone and brickwork inside, scarcely any oil or paint having been used on the building. It is a- wonderful dtsign and afascinating structure. It grows upon you, and .you would never think of staying anywhere else if you were within reach of the Imperial Hotel. It was the only building that withstood the earthquake, the only damage done being a setlement of about nine inches in one corner of the building. The company sent Mr Wright a cable after the earthquake, stating that the building stood up to the test. He sent a reply: ‘Wright was right.’”