LEANING TOWER OF PISA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20289, 23 December 1927, Page 10

LEANING TOWER OF PISA.

Some months ago the Italian Government appointed a special commission to inquire into the safety of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Serious alarm was felt at the continuous inclination of the tower, and apprehension was expressed t that the famous tower, whose construction was begun in 1174, and completed two centuries later, would unexpectedly tumble down. According to the experts, who have thoroughly examined the tower frrtti top to bottom, there is no immediate cau.-e for anxiety, and should the present rate of inclination continue as in former years, its collapse would take place 300 years hence. U has been ascertained that in the last rune years the movement of the seventh storey, or cornice, amounted to nine millimeters, or a little more than a third of an inch. As it is in the interests of Italy to preserve this unique monument, several suggestions have been made to render stable its foundations, and to check, as far as possible, a further increase to the inclination. The commission has advised an immediate drainage at the base of the tower, as it has been found that the foundations are in bad condition owing to infiltrations of moisture.