THE POST-OFFICE CLOCK.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 916, 20 September 1889, Page 14

THE POST-OFFICE CLOCK.

The Joint Committees of the Harbour Board and City Council appointed to deal with the question of the Post-offioe clock, held a meeting at the Corporation Buildings on Tuesday, There were present— The Mayor (in the chair), Councillor Willeston, and Messrs E. Pearce and J. Petherick. A statement of accounts was submitted and approved, and the Committee resolved to recommend the Council and the Board to pay the balance due to Messrs Littlejohn and Sons, amounting to L 165. Certificates were read from Mr W. Ferguson, Harbour Board engineer, and from Mr Robert Parker as to the tone of the bells. Mr Ferguson reported that the work had been carried, out satisfactorily, and Mr Parker’s certificate was as follows : I beg to report that since the erection of the chimes in the Post Office tower Messrs Littlejohn have effected several improvements both in the tuning of the bells and in the striking mechanism ; and I consider that they have now completed their contract in a satisfactory manner. The bells are not absolutely in tune, but they will bear comparison in this respect with jtheir prototypes at Westminster, and, in fact, with the majority of English chimes. It must be remembered that a chime of bells cannot be tuned with the same nicety as the strings of a violin, and as a matter of fact it is only in a country like Belgium, where bell-founding has been brought to the perfection of a fine art by centuries of tradition and skilled practice that entirely satisfactory results in the matter have been achieved. Making clue allowance for the 'circumstances of their production, I think the chimes are creditable to the founders, and I consider the hour bell a really fine piece of. work. I regret that I had not the opportu- 1 uity of finally testing the bells before their erection in the tower, as thereby some public comment might have been saved/but the tone of a bell, depending as it does to such an extent on its harmonic sclnncls cannot well b'e determined until it is struck with its proper mechanism, arid iauts propei place. In conclusion I wish to acknowledge the courtesy and attention of Mr IJeushelwood, of Messrs Cab/e and Co., who has taken all possible, trouble tc\ parry out my suggestions with regard to the hells, and to whom is due their general satisfactory character. Before the meeting terminated the Committee passed a vote of thanks to Mr Parker for hia services in the matter.