Page image

H.-4

44

of the ambulatory, and a line taken from corner to corner shows a double curve upwards at the south end, down in the middle, and north part. 562. Mr. Gore.] A curve in what direction did you say? —It is a double curve. 563. A sort of buckle, in fact ?—On the lower floor it is uphill as much as fin., and downhill fin. There is a similar but greater curvature in the back wall. That is as much as 2|in. uphill and lfin. downhill out of the line taken from corner to corner. Of course these two sets of measurements may not be quite 564. The Chairman.] Still, the measurements are in the same direction ? —Yes. There was the same double curvature in the back wall; but it is much greater than in the front wall of the ambulatory. These double curves show in all the floors. You will find the same thing in the dayroom on Plan No. 2, but not in so marked a manner. The front room is lin. uphill and ljin. downhill under the window-sills, and lfin. down and lin. uphill at the ceiling. There is a similar curve in the middle wall. There is a variation of width in the day-room—it is slightly over lin. wider just opposite to the entrance to the day-recess. The double curvature shows again in the day-room on the top-floor; but it is not quite so marked. It is fin. uphill and -Jin. downhill at the very top, on a line taken Tin. below the ceiling. Taken 4in. below the window-sills, it is ■Jin. uphill and fin. downhill. 565. I understand you to say that this movement extends from the basement right up to the roof ?—Yes. 566. It begins to lessen as you go higher up?— Yes. The measurements of the day-room in the north wing 567. Which floor?— The second floor. Those measurements show a bend in the south wall of the north wing, corresponding pretty much with the bulge in the north wall. That you might expect from the way in which it had been carried by the ambulatory-wall. The measurements I have taken in the ambulatory show that the concrete floor is not of the same width all along. At the end it is 12ft. wide. 568. At which end ?—At both ends. Near where there is a little man-hole, there is a sudden jump of 3in. in width. It is 12ft. wide opposite one of the pillars, and lift. &Jin. opposite the next one. 569. Then it is contracted ? —lt is a sudden contraction, which probably explains why there is that curvature of the wall. There are no cracks. 570. That is the concrete ?—-Yes. It is narrower at one place than another. 571. I am not quite clear about your last answers. Are your measurements between the walls or on the floor? —At the level of the concrete, between the base of the pillar and the back wall. 572. Then, in taking your measurements, you took the concrete walls as they were originally put in ?—Yes. 573. So that, as there were no cracks showing on the concrete floor, you assumed that it was originally built that way ? —Yes. The back concrete wall is pretty nearly parallel with the middle wall. Now, as regards the corridor-roof, it, so far as can be seen, has followed the north wall of the north wing and the colonnade-wall in their movements. It appears to have dragged along the back wall and from it. With regard to the vertical movement on Drawing No. 4, you will find the levels taken along the pillars of the colonnade. The first is on the south side on the plinth, and the level is 11-15. The first pillar on the south end is 11-16; the second pillar, 11-15 ; the third pillar, 11-12 ; the fourth pillar, 11-12 ; the fifth pillar, 11-13; the sixth pillar, 11-12 ; the seventh pillar, 11-16 ; the eighth pillar, 11-11 ; and on the plinth, 11-07 and 11-06. That clearly shows that if the bases were put in to the same level there has been -|in. to fin. of settlement along the four middle piers. 574. Taking the second one from the south, was this one down?— Yes ; it is 11-15. 575. Then 11-15 is straight?— The first of the pillars is 11-16, and the next one is 11-15. 576. Mr. Gore.] Then 11-07 is on the wall, and 11-06 in a corner ?—Yes. 577. According to these figures this one is ljin. lower than that one ? —Yes. With regard to the vertical movement of the middle wall, you will find the cracks between it and the partitionwalls shown on Plan No. 1. 578. What do you call partition-walls ?—The cellar partition-walls. The first sign we have is a slight crack between the partition-walls 2 and 3, and the back wall. With regard to the partition between 3 and 4, there is a large crack up to the joint where the brickwork joins the concrete; it is fin. wide on the top and close at the bottom, showing clearly that the wall is tilting seawards, and also that there has been sinking at the large chimney. It further. shows that the centre wall has sunk at its junction with this partition-wall. Between 4 and swe have a similar crack. It is fin. wide, and nearly close at the bottom : that shows that the partition-wall has tilted, and, as there is no corresponding crack between the centre-wall and the partition-wall, this wall and the centre wall have clearly gone down together. Between 5 and 6 there are faint cracks. At the corner of the back wall the partition-wall is cracked diagonally from top to bottom. This last crack runs towards the front, and runs down the chimney. It is open a little at the top, and shows that the middle wall has gone out to seaward. Between 6 and 7 also there is a diagonal crack in the partition-wall, such as would result from the middle wall leaving it and going downwards. At the lift there are very marked signs of settlement. There is a bursting-up of the concrete in that corner. The partition-wall between 7 and 8 has a slight crack up the joint between the partition-wall and the back wall. There is a similar faint crack at the joint between 8 and 9 —between the par-tition-wall and the back wall of the building. With regard to the settlement of the north wall of the north wing, I did not find anything to lead me to believe that it had settled. All the cracks are due to bulging; there is no evidence of settlement. 579. That is, all the cracks in the north wing ? —All the cracks in the north wall of the north wing.