ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20480, 4 February 1930, Page 12

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.

RESTORATION COMPLETED. | SEVENTEEN YEARS' WORK. [FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT. | LONDON, Dec. 2;j. . The King and Queen and leading men of the Church and nation will take part in a service on June 25 next when St. Paul's Cailwdral will be fully restored to public worship. Many Anglican bishops will then be in London for the Lambeth Conference. It is nearly five years since the dome was closed, and nearly 17 years since the repairs now reaching their conclusion were started. To all outward appearance the great church will be as it always has been. The work carried, out includes the restoration of tho lantern and the two southern transept piers, the strengthening of tho buttresses and the fitting of the eight piers which carry the domo with reinforced concrete, besides many other minor but highly important details. v . For not a single day since the work was started in 1913 has it been stopped. Money has come from every part of the Empire, and when ho appealed for funds, Canon Alexander, treasurer of St. Paul's, received £250,000 when ho had asked for only £140.000. Altogether, more than £400,000 has been given. The groining of the piers has been done under pressure. Wren's method w;as to fill the outer facing of tho piers—about 3m. thick—with rubble, andi for this purpose he used fragments of the old cathedral which was destroyed in the tireut Fire. In the course of years this n K had sunk to tho bottom, leaving the upper portions of the piers hollow. The larvel is that they continued to carry tho S ns ° - w , cigllt of nca,, 'y 63.000 tons mhu h mainly reposes on them. for L? - * s now I'egardcd as safe tuiWes n°V° . (:or ", e ' P r ? vidnd "o disthe foiiTiriarr, 111 -1° neighbourhood o\ Wtrdr/ 1 &S onsnncfirs "'CLitects and vicinity o£ the alto ? SE-? 01 tho «"»«