SHODDY REPAIR WORK

Waipa Post, Volume 45, Issue 3215, 11 August 1932, Page 6

SHODDY REPAIR WORK

DISCOVERY AT A CATHEDRAL. The discovery that brown paper had been used to cover holes in the ceiling of the cathedral at Peterborough n England, and then whitewashed over to avoid detection, has been made during recent repairs to the fabric. The deception, which is described as an example of the lengths to which shoddy work can go, is thought to have been perpetrated during the restoration in the last century. The culprits are, therefore, beyond the consequences of their crime, but the present generation has to pay for it at a time when many other parts of the structure need attention.

The floor of the south transept, for example, is in such a dangerous state that fears are entertained lest it may fal l on the Saxon church below and

ornamented battlements are perishing. The eastern chapel roof is already under repair. During the past fifty years repairs to the cathedral, which dates back to the twelfth century, have cost over

£IOO,OOO, and the dean recently stated

that it seemed as though a body of workmen would have to be permanently attached to every cathedral, since, during his seventeen years at St. Paul's, he never remembered the cathedral being free from scaffolding.

The death-watch beetle, against which war has been waged at Peterborough for many years, appears at last to have been conquered—by con-

crete—the few survivors ;hav'ng been sent to the Government laboratories at Princes Risborough. The on'y danger according to the dean, is that a beetle may be evolved which is capable of dealing with concrete.