THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, JUNE 30, 1930. THE EMPIRE'S CATHEDRAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20603, 30 June 1930, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, JUNE 30, 1930. THE EMPIRE'S CATHEDRAL.

Five and a-half years have passed since the national project of repairing St. Paul's Cathedral was launched. The work is now complete. Toward the end of the first year, the Times, through which the dean and chapter made an appeal for funds to preserve the building, ■wrote confidently: "The time will como when the cathedral authorities and the others now joined with them in this great task will be able to say to each subscriber—'Si eventum requiris circumspice.' The work you entrusted with us is done: the cathedral is safe." A memorable thanksgiving service was held in the cathedral last week, and the solemn rejoicing of that day has bee?, echoed thi oughout the Empire, The task has been indeed a great one, greater even than was anticipated. Anxiety centred in the eight main piers supporting the dome. Two of them were made secure by the cathedral authorities before the appeal was issued, but all have needed elaborate treatment. The great architect whose memorial inscription is recalled in the Latin sentence from the Times had to make the best use he could of available material; consequently, the cores of the piers were filled with rubble. In the course of years this decayed, leaving the stone casing to bear the weight of the dome. Therefore, it was necessary to drill holes through the masonry and force cement into the centro of the piers to make them solid. A still more difficult task remained. The failure of the cores had thrown the weight of the dome on to the masonry, which was never intended to bear it ! unaided, and was rendered the more unfit to bear it because the conhad disregarded Wren's instructions about the proper use of iron rods. A number of the stones had split and broken as a result. To replace these has necessitated handling tons of masonry. Beside this, much metal-work has been occasioned, on the "drum" on which the dome directly stands and elsewhere. Now the work is finished, with—marvellous to relate—little or nothing to tell the tale, so skilfully has all been done. To the eye, the cathedral is exactly as it was, save for the disappearance of certain cracks and fissures in the stones.

News of the thanksgiving service is now followed by tho announcement that the architect to the dean and chapter has been knighted, in recognition of his work in directing the restoration. Thought is inevitably carried back to Sir Christopher Wren, who received his knighthood after accepting the task bf building the cathedral. He had already established his reputation, in architecture as in other technical activities, and the restoration of old St. Paul's was naturally entrusted to him. The spot occupied had long been' sacred. In Saxon times a church stood there, till fire destroyed it. In 1136 fire also partially destroyed its successor, and rebuilding was at once begun. So came into being the famous old Gothic structure that lost its spire in a thunderstorm in 1561. Wren was asked, in 1663, to undertake repairs to this building. Work was begun, only to be stopped by the wellremembered outbreak of plague, and then the Great Fire swept the building right away. A nobler project thereupon possessed Wren's mindto rebuild the whole city on more generous lines, with wider streets, through which sweet air might pass and where healing sunshine might linger. But the city magnates, impatient* of a work that would take much time, and meeting obstacles arising from various ownerships of land, rejected his plans. His' dream remained unrealised. Given the task of rebuilding St. Paul's, he set about this with remarkable energy. Nevertheless it took eight years to clear away the ruins of the old building and thirty-five more to erect the new one. How he lived on the spot, and was drawn up in a basket several times a week, as the structure grew, has interesting record. In a like enthusiasm, his work has been renewed. Hundreds of corroded iron cramps have been taken from the masonry; non-rust-ing steel ties have been inserted; buttresses and radial walls have been treated with injected cement and rustless reinforcement; hundreds of tons of timber and steelwork have been used in the temporary supports; ceaseless vigilance has been exercised in watching levels and the changes in cracks, as well as unrelenting care against the risk of fire attendant on the introduction of so much timber. Sir Christopher seems to have come to life again in this rejuvenating of his best memorial.

Behind the work has been a truly national enthusiasm. The appeal on January 8, 1925, was for £140.000. A fortnight later that amount was in hand, and by the end of August the gifts totalled more than £250,000, and the Times was still being sent donations. All the Empire participated in the eagerness "to save St. Paul's." It has therefore been possible to accomplish what proved to be a greater task than at first appeared. The work was hampered and prolonged by the lack of reliable record of past investigations—a defect now remedied by the preparation of detailed statements of the condition of the cathedral at the present time and the completion of arrangements for their preservation for future reference. So this great focus of national affection and reverence, "the Empire's parish church." which in Wren's day dominated the London landscape and even no# cannot be hidden by the crowding buildings around it, is made enduringly safe for continuous use for the worship of thousands of people, and for the pilgrim visits of a great host of all races and creeds. The national concern for its security will have a recurrent and manifold reward throughout unnumbered years.