IT IS LIKE A WYANDOTTE’S BACK, HE SAYS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17906, 23 July 1926, Page 1

IT IS LIKE A WYANDOTTE’S BACK, HE SAYS.

ARCHITECT CRITICISES BRIDGE OF REMEMBRANCE. COVERED IN FLAWS AND MOSS-LIKE SLIME. When seen through the gloom of a winter’s night, its mellow lamps casting a pale and ghostly radiance over the giant .wliitestone arch, the Bridge of Remembrance is a majestic thing, a thing to lie remembered indeed. But by day it loses much of ' the

glamour that is enjoys by night; bathed in a winter sunlight, it becomes an arch with many flaws; and one architect this morning likened it to a silver Wyandotte’s back. Wretched Stone. “It is built of a wretched stone to begin with,” he said, “and it’s full of flaws; it’s covered in specks and blobs like a silver Wyandotte's back—Tasmanian stone they call it; and I don't like it. ” And covered in innumerable spots the bridge certainly is—there are thousands of them, some as large as sixpences, some larger than half a crown, every one a flaw that had been patched up with cement. Patched Up. “ They were 1 sand-holes, ” the architect said, “and they have been patched up—of course it would not have done to have left them showing, and you'll always find them in this sand-stone; that’s why I say I don't like it. ” To the casual observer the innumerable white blobs resemble paint splashes, but on closer, examination it is plain that the multitudinous cavities that once, graced the surface of the stone have been filled with a white ce ment. Dirty Slime. What is more likely to attract the attention of the man in the street is the presence of a dirty green slime on the northern balustrade of the bridge —it is very dirty, and gives the bridge an unkept appearance. “You will, always find that with this stone when it is located in a spot which does not get the sun. ” the architect said, “.it is nothing unusual. With a little soap and water it could be cleaned in no time. ” And there are many people in Christchurch who hold that the time has long passed when the bridge should have had its baptismal wash.