LONDON'S HIGHEST JOB.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19412, 21 August 1926, Page 2 (Supplement)

LONDON'S HIGHEST JOB.

SUMMIT OF SAINT PAUL'S. & : WASHING CROSS AND BALL. OVER 6000 STAIES A DAY. High up above London, so high that tho mouth of the Thames, with its everpresent fleet, seems close at hand, men are restoring to the gilded Cross and Ball of St. Paul's Cathedral some of the sparkle which climate and time have stolen.

These midget forms, flitting about a precarious platform', and casually leaning against the arms of the Cross itself, have brought a new thrill to the city, which very few people would care to provide. Yet to these men, five all told, it is all in thd day's work. Hard, warm work it cerfainly is, but very interesting. Up there on the cross of St. Paul's, where one might have imagined lofty and splendid isolation, the noises of the street are startingly clear.

" You can almost hear what people are saying," one of the scaffolders told a Daily Chronicle representative. "I looked down twice to-day, thinking that someone on a ladder was speaking to me, but tho voice had come up from the street; "If anyone' goes past whistling you can hear every note as clearly as; if you were walking by the whistler's side. Wo haven't much time to admire the views, but the air "is much clearer these days, when so little coal is being burned, and you can see great distances. H Working in the "sunlight is no joke. The reflection" from the gilt nearly blinds you, and as for heat—it takes a hit of bearing. Fortunately there has been a bit of breeze to-day, but when everything is still and there is a warm iiun you wish yourself miles away." These five men have to walk up 627 steps to the spot just under the ball, whefe their seemingly frail staging bears two long ladders leading to the top of the cross. Some have to walk up and dow& five times a day-—6270 stairs! A lesson in fortitude for the flat dweller! Their ascent leads to the inner golden gallery at the base of the lantern. Here is prepared the cleansing liquid, which is hoisted in buckets to the midget forms of the cleaners on their staging by the

ball, or still higher on the arms of the shining cross itself.

One sees the dwarfs move their hands vigorously, and gradually one sees more glory reflected—the old cross is sending out it message with renewed vigour. The ball, which is hollow, but without outlook, is said to weigh 56001b. It has astonished most Londoners to know that once it was rolled down Ludgate Hill. Just over 100 years ago cross and jball were taken down. A mighty job it was, and in order to get the ball away to the founder's yard men had to roll it gently down the slope from the Cathedral. The cross is 30ffc. high, and weighs 33601b. At its summit the cleaner is 365 ft. from the ground, 165 ft. higher than the thrilled and sometimes, nervous people who ascend the Monum?nfc can,claim. No regilding has taken place since before the war, though both cross and 'bail were ■tfaahed four years ago.