GLASS PAVEMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7142, 5 July 1901, Page 2

GLASS PAVEMENT.

THE LATEST PARIS NOVELTY. Paris streets are to. be paved 1 with glass, says th» "Daily Telegraph." Such is the latest idea of the local authorities. The •new- pavement is being tried in the i Rue dv Havre, apposite the St Lazare Railway Station, and if all that is said of it be true, tlhte sooroer it is laid! down all over lihe city the better. Pure glass is used without admixture of oenwnt, but subjected! to a special treatment, called devitri- ' ffcation. The a-esulb is a hard, smooth, substance, opaque, absolutely non-porous, absorbing no foreign matter, and! tihus re- i taiping no dampness- or unpleasant odours, I and, lastly, of remarkable resisting powers, as :t will stand at pressure of 1000 kilos per square centimetre without cracking or yielding in- any way. | Consequently, tihe glass paving sttones will bsat all others in durability, combining the solidity of granite with the smoothness of wood andl asphalt, without the drawbacks of all three — tihie uneven surface of the first, and the liability of the other two to wear andi sink in. The same sort of material 'has been largely used! in the construction of the tunnel of the Electric Metropolitan. The municipal authorities state that they have signed o> five years' contract with the company which! manufactures the glass pavements. If at the end> of that period tit* new invention is found' to answer, it will be generally adopted!. If not, the company will be bound! to replace its pavementei wherever laid, by wood; or stone, as the case may be. The same authorities say that the new material is not influenced la the slightest degree by -heat or ooLd. The oost, however, is high, from nine to twelve francs per square metre, while another drawback of the glass pavement is its extreme resonance.