A BIG CONTRACT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XVIII, Issue 12120, 23 December 1913, Page 4

A BIG CONTRACT.

MATERIALS FOR PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS. HUGE QUANTITIES OF STONE AND STEEL WORK. . By Telegraph. (Special to Oarnaru Mail.) _ Wellington, Decemher 22. Messrs Hansford, Mills, and Hardy, the.; Christchurch firm W ] lo SG curcd the Parliament Building , "contract - at £151,639, are busy getting their material together. Ironwork for tile big job has been ordered in England by ca'blo and- will be sent out in . six weeks or two months at the most 1 . The whole building is to be very carefully braced and reinforced with' steel work as a precaution against earthquake damage the weight of these ties and' girders aggregating over GOO tons. Tile Killed girders, etc.. have to be cut to the size indicated and put together in the Do-minion. Granite for the basement storey, 14ft high, will come from the Coromandel quarries, the amount of this material ' required being 12,000 cubic feet. Another huge item among the building materials is the grey marble from Sandy Bay, Motueka, of which 52,000 cubic feet will be wanted. Granite and marble constitute the facing. The interior of the walls will be of brick, and it is estimated that three millions will bo used up, in addition l<> the many thousands already put into the foundations, where concreto has not. been necessary.

The firm which has secured this re-cord-sized contract is composed of oomparatively young men. Messrs Hansford and Hardy are well known Christchurch builders, and Mr Mills is ail exLondon contractor at present carrying out work at th 0 new Technical SebooK Dunedin. Two years from Deoejnber 12th have been given to complete tho work, that it is hardly possible to have even the new legislative chambers ready for tho 1915 session.