A SUBSIDING TOWN.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XVIII, Issue 9352, 10 March 1881, Page 2

A SUBSIDING TOWN.

We were recently at Northwich, where the chief trade is pumping brine out of the ground in order to produce common salt, and were much astonished by the appearance presented by part of it. The effect of pumping causes the surface of the ground to sink, and this subsidence results in serious damage to building property. A project ia on foot, we believe, to obtain, by legislation, means of compensating owners of property injured by the subsidence, and not before it was needed. It would be difficult by words to convey an idea of the sad condition of many parts of the town. Ail new buildings are now constructed of timber framing, the lower part of which is formed of massive pieces of timber or ciils, and as the ground ; subsides, and the house becomes two or three feet lower than the street, instead of perhaps six inches or one foot above it, as originally constructed, screwjacks are introduced under the timber 1 cills or plates, and the whole is raised up to its original position. We saw one house and shop that had been twice raised, though it had been built only a • few years. The old county Courthouse haa oomo forward, lately aa if to onliefc / legal assistance. We were at Northwich" during the recent floods, and the lower streets with the basements of the houses s and the ground floors, too, were entirely under water. Northwich evidently ■ needs looking after. — Builder.