CONCRETE BUILDINGS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3929, 19 September 1874, Page 5 (Supplement)

CONCRETE BUILDINGS.

Building in concrete is a subjsct which is now , beginning to attract general attention throughout the Province. The Euilding JTewg in a late number publishes a paper by Mr Charles Drake, on "Concrete Building." The advantages which Mr Drake claimed as being secured by the use pf cement concrete for house-building purposes fvere-(i) Increased strength; (2) Greater, durability j (3) Reduced. cost; (4) Greater expedition; [§) Superior damp-resistiugrealities; (6) Greater facilities for five-proof construction; (7) Greater facilities and economy for Ventilating,' warming, and applying improved sani? tary arrangements ; (8) Being veimin-proof; and (9) Giving an alternative method of construction, and the ir.eans of applying unskilled labour. These advantages have, we are informed, been found on trial liere to be possessed by the concrete. Mr David Ross has for a long time been urging the adoption of concrete for buildings—it is now more than two years since he showed us its utility in the Piovince—and he now informs us that the prejudice against concrete is fast giving'way, and its advantages are becoming recognised. Mr Eoss claims, no1 originality iv the'matter r hut credit must be given him for the . persevering way in which he .has hitherto quietly, advocated the introduction of the new mode of building into the Province, and his efforts appear to be nowbeginning to be crowned-with success, he having orders in hand for designing about 40 concrete! buildings. . The Court House at Lawrence, now in course of,erection, was designed by him. and in its constriction concrete is largely used. Woi-k has been delayed by the heavy frost, but now that the frost is over, is being proceeded with. The concrete partings to be used in that building have Joeen. described'a? beipg. 'fas hard as granite;" and practical men. are asfonisjieij: q!fcthe hardness of the castings, more especially i considering the small quantity of cement which Mr Ross-has ordered to be used in all these concrete works, being in many cases less than one half of what is used in many, other works in the Province. Owing to the success of the concrete, of which the foregoing is given as an instance, Mr Eoss has now twelve orders for designs in concrete, from different parts of the country, in hand, and an order from the Government for the erection of 30 cottages on; the Railway Workshops EeV serve at Hillside. The cottages will .be"used in the first instance to accommodate immigrants, and afterwards for the employes at the workshops.^ Half of them will 'bo three-roomed and the other half four-roomed cottages. The sanitary arrangements to be made will, so far as we can judge, be considerably in advance of. the usual way of. doing things on the flat. The orp^nd to be'occupied by the cottages, yards, gardefvs^a'nffgrountla |or 'drying clothes, will be raised from eighteen'incbes to iwafeet above the present level, which will be sufficient to keep it dry and healthy with the greatest accumulation of water on the flat. Each cottage will have a ''front and back door and fenced back-yard, and $je four-roomed cottages will have each a small garden-plot fenced in in front. The: buildiugs will be' in. rowa, and'none of'them vpill front rights-of-way or narrow passages. It may be mentioned in regard to the improved sanitai'y arrangements that instead, as is frequently the case, in town, of there being a closet stuck up close to the back door of a house, there are no closets iv . the yards, Vint they are placed in groups on.ground outside the yard. All the drainage will be taken into concreto covered tanks instead of, as is often the case in that locality, being allowed to swolter in open ditche9, J^o clothes- Hues will be in the yard— there being special urymg-gl'oun* 1", u>hm" e posts and lines will be erected. The General Government nan approved of the work, and'the Proyinpja} Qoyerninent has given t])p. order fgr t])e ereptfpn'of lhp : bliildiiVgs..' This dispose oi the mwch yexed question of ground for immigraiitij' cottages. '' - ■ :■■;: '' •■ - ■

Sir Rutherford Alcock happily called Japan the *' Paradise of Babies" on account of the-immunity:enjoyed there by children from the restraints and discipline which are imposed and deemed necessary elsewhere. Jut if our observations were limited to .the |b£eign gettlem^nt| of J^p«fn yze ghould say the country was tfi'BsaV4dige dl'Banl^ers and Bankers' clerks, who celebrate Saints' days, Race ;days, Regatta days, and all foreign Matsoiirls with a devotion which is not only an excellent example to the community, but ■which ensures it anutnber of holidays wholly unknown elsewhere, Fgr from having any objections to this, we think it delightful, nor do we. see that, if all close, any one suffers by the custom. But it is a blessed exception to the ordinary lot of toiling humanity.