Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/118

 102 THE BUILDING NEWS. Fes. 2, 1872. the purpose of preventing damage to buildings by the swelling and stimulage of clay? I am about to com- mence the erection of a building upon a foundation of blue clay, and had considered myself safe by providing in my plans for good foundations of concrete. Since reading the letters of your correspondents, H. G. Elborne and “S. I. B.,” I must confess that I have great mistrust of the means in which before [had some confidence. It may be well for me to mention that in my present case, to which I allude, there is no oppor- tunity of carrying the water to the main sewer, and that the building will be erected on the highest point of ground, having a gentle slope.—A YOUNG ARCHITECT. (2453.] — Water-Closet Basin. — Will some brother reader kindly give me a little advice upon the following?—An old open privy cesspool being a great nuisance, I recommended turning an arch over the same to enclose effluvium, and the fixing of an ordinary white-glazed, short, hopper basin and § trap. This has proved a failure, as when the basin is flushed by pouring in water, the water slowly disappears, leaving the greater part of the soil and paper behind, Iam afraid it is owing to the neck of the basin being too small. Can any one recommenda more serviceable kind of basin with larger outlet? There is no water laid on, and it is too far to pump the water to a cistern. No kind of water or earth-closet would be admissable. There is no air-pipe in cesspool, would this account for it? but Iam nearly certain there is an overflow drain. —W.R.S. REPLIES, (2424.]—Builders’ Profits.—‘‘Q. R.” raises the question, Can an hour's labour be weighed or measured the same as a quantity of tea, sugar, or beer? Or is man a machine propelled by apower foreignto, ora being whose labour is controlled by the mental and physical forces existing within himself ? “*Q. R.” might to-day be charged 9d. for 44d. worth of labour, while to-morrow he might get fair value for 1s. 6d., the man in the first instance exerting himself much more than in the second. Builders alone are the only proper judges of the value of the labour they produce, receiving their experience by dealing in it. I could not advise “QR.” even to consult another builder on the value of aquantity of labour produced by me, and think that either I or he would be safein the conclusion to be arrived at.—BUILDER. [2488]—Definitions of Flooring.—Rough, edges shot, means rough surface, edges planed straight. Wrought and laid folding is planed surface, and folding, is the method of laying by which the boards are brought close. Splayed headings, the heading joints bevelled, so thatthe last board of thetwo that is laid holds down the other one.—T. C. H. [2439.]—Price per Cube Foot.—You should write to the architects, Messrs. Lynn and Lanyon, Belfast, relative to the price per cube foot of Chester Town Hall. But what have English prices todo with Nerth Britain works ?—Q. G. C. [2440.)—Earth-Closets v. Water-Closets.— Jennings’ waterclosets for ladies—so many stories high. Earth-closets are better adapted to barracks and for men on ground-floor.—W. W. E. COBBLESTONE. —__@—_ LEGAL INTELLIGENCE. WaAnrDLE y. BETHUNE.—CHRIST CHURCH CATHE- DRAL, MONTREAL.—This case came up for judgment before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on Tuesday last. It was an appeal from the Court of Queen’s Bench, Lower Canada, by a builder against the rector of Montreal, for the balance due for the erection of Christ Church Cathedral, which had been destroyed by fire. There had been long litigation between the parties inthe Canadian courts, and the main question was whether, as a builder, the appellant was liable for the sinking of the tower of the cathedral. Mr. Horace Lloyd, Q.C., and Mr, Morgan Howard were for the appellant; Sir Roundell Palmer, Q.C., and Mr. H. M. Bompas for the respondent. Sir J. Napier, on behalf of the Judicial Committee, read a long judgment, and reviewed the litigation, which had been commenced in the year 1861, a third appeal having been heard by the Court of Queen’s Bench in 1868, when that Court affirmed the judgment of the Court below, on which the builder appealed to the Judicial Com- mittee. Sir Joseph Napier traced the law on the subject of contracts applicable to the present case, and said their lordships were of of opinion that the architect and builder were to be considered as one, and bound to provide for the stability of the build- ing. Their lordships would therefore humbly recommend to her Majesty that the appeal be dis- missed, with costs. CoMPENSATION CASE.--T YSON v.THE CORPORATION or Lonpon.—This case (heard in the Lord Mayor's Court last week) was a claim for compensation on account of the demolition of property for a public improvement. The claimant had been carrying on the business of a newsvendor in one of the houses destroyed for the construction of the new thorough- fare, 8. Bride’s-street, leading from the foot of Ludgate-hill to Holborn-circus. He said that he had sunk £400 before he made his business pay. The property held by him consisted of two houses, one of which was held at a yearly rental of £24, and the other upon a three years’ lease. The fixtures had been estimated at £21. In his new premises, though ] nery,” the novelty and wonder-working powers of they were near to the old ones, he had been unable to do a remunerative trade. The Common Serjeant, in summing up the case, said that public improve- ments could not be executed at the private cost of individuals. The claimant ought to be put in as good a position as if these works had not been under- taken. He would pass over the value of the fixtures, for it had not been disputed. There were two ques- tions: first, as to the value of the property; and then as to the goodwill. If a man had a lease of it, he could go into the market and sell it, and would be entitled to any improved yalue. Novy, notice to treat in this case was given in January, 1869, but the claimant did not go out of possession until March, 1871. No doubt then, the terms of both his houses had expired; and it was difficult to see what he could have carried into the market and sold. It had not been stated either that there was any im- proved rent since the granting of the lease. The jury awarded the claimant £150. A Srwace Nutsance.—Judgment was gfven in the case of the Attorney-General y. Borough of B3irmingham by Vice-Chancellor Bacon on Wednes- day morning. At the conclusion of Mr. Pearson's argument his Honour, without calling on the Solicitor-General, decided that the Corporation had failed in giving any satisfactory grounds why the Court should accede to their application. On a pre- vious application he gave the Corporation time to carry out their proposed plans for the abatement of the sewage nuisance, but intimated that that time would not be extended without satisfactory evidence of their haying done their best to remedy the evil of which the relators complained. No such evidence was now before him; there was plenty of evidence that the Corporation had done their duty to the town of Birmingham, but not a trace of evidence that they had done their duty to their neighbour (the relators). He was satisfied that the Corpora- tion could have abated the nuisance, if not fully and effectually, at least to such an extent as to convince the Court that they had done their best. The middens and privies of the town drain inte the com- mon sewer, and this sewer is under the direct juris- diction of the local authorities. The relators had proved to his satisfaction that their existence was disturbed and their very lives endangered by this nuisance, which, according to their evidence, was worse now than a year ago. |The application, therefore, for a further suspension of the decree must be refused. The other motion in the suit, in which Sir Charles Adderley is the relator, was not pro- ceeded with. A BurtipeEr’s CLAIM.—GRANFIELD Vy. CHAMBERS. — The plaintiff in this case (heard in the Lord Mayor's Court last week) a builder, sued the dufen- dant, a shopkeeper, for £14 12s. 10d. for work done. The defendant gave the plaintiff orders to fit up a shop for him at Camden Town. This was done, and it was in reference to this work that the present claim was made. An attorney, instructed by the defendant, had written to the plaintiff, offering to pay the amount on two bills, one for three, and the other for six months. The Common Serjeant said the charges of the plaintiff seemed to be fair and reasonable. The defendant, however, wanted time to pay them. The plaintiff might feel disposed to agree to this, but in the meantime the plaintiff was entitled to a verdict. The defendant did not appear, and the jury found for the plaintiff. ——_ > —_ WATER SUPPLY AND SANITARY MATTERS. Yarmourx Water Works. —The Yarmout! Waterworks Company have purchased five acres of ground at Gorleston as sites for large reservoirs to be constructed for the supply of the parish of Gorleston and the hamlet of Southtown with pure water. The water at present supplied to Yarmouth by the Company is taken from the extensive broads at Ormesley, about seven miles distant. Communi- cation at, Southtown is effected by means of a pipe laid across the Yare just above the bridge on the north, and it is understood that another tube will be laid down. HALEswortH.—The Sewage Committee of the Vestry of Halesworth haye adopted the plans of Mr. Fitch for the drainage of the town; but as Mr. Fitch has engagements abroad, his plans and specifications have been put into the hands of Mr. Estridge for execution. The scheme, which will cost £1,500 to carry out, includes large sewers in various parts of the town, which are to take the sewage down to the the marshes, where it is to be partially filtered, and thence it will find its way down the river, the more solid matter being in some manner utilised. WeymovuTu.—Mr. Coode, civil engineer, has pre- pared plans for the drainage and utilisation of the sewage of Weymouth, but it would seem that some local genius considers Mr. Coode’s plan an “ill- digested, ill-adapted measure,” and has (according to the Dorset County Chronicle) made the Quixotic proposal of raising “the whole of the sewage of the borough of Weymouth to the level of the high lands of Wyke and Chickerell by means of a jet of steam applied direct, without the intervention of machi- this apparatus being due, we are told, to a ‘peculiar arrangement of pipes.” We are not engineers (says the local journal), but common-sense leads us to believe tat this proposal, like perpetual motion and other kindred desiderata, would be impracticable, for the volume of sewage to be dealt with is 1,800 tons per diem, and the height to which it is to be lifted is from 60ft. to 100ft. Steam has, if we are rightly in- formed, been employed for forcing small quantities of water, asin the case of the feed-pumps of locomo- tives ; but the immense body of steam and the stupendous generatizg power of the boilers that would be rsquired to put into operation the apparatus projected by our friend the local engineer would dwarf into insignificance these puny contrivances. THE PURIFICATION OF THE THAMES.—A meeting was held on Wednesday evening at the Town Hall, Kingston-on-Thames, at which Mr. Peek, M.P., presided, to receive information from Mr. Bazalgette, C.B., on his plan for purifying the Thames from sewage between the metropolis and Windsor. The following resolution was proposed and adopted by the representatives of the various sewer authorities: —* That it is essential legislative powers should be obtained to meet the difficulty occasioned by the Acts of Parliament recently passed by the Government, prohibiting the discharge of sewage into the river Thames, and that a committee be appointed to con- sider the plan of Mr. Bazalgette, and to confer with the Government and others with a yiew to providing a remedy.” > STAINED GLASS. Cuurcnu or S. Mary, HeNLEY-on-THAMES.—A beautiful memorial window has just been placed in the above church by the relatives of the late Captain Brooks, R.N., Commander of H.M.S. Ring dove, who was accidentally drowned in Yedo Bay, Japan. It consists of three lights, and contains the following subjects in the centre light:—Our Lord walking on the sea, with S. Peterin the foreground, and the legend beneath ‘‘ Lord save me;” andinthe two side lights the subjects are the stilling of the waters and the shipwreck of S. Paul. The tracery, which is of the Reticulated order, contains two angels in the compartments above the side lights, and the top compartment is filled with a representa- tion of the ark upon the waters, with a rainbow in the background. The whole has been carried out by Messrs. Heaton, Butler, & Bayne, of Garrick- street, from the instructions and under the im- mediate superintendence of Mr. Wm. Scott Champion, architect, of London and Henley-on-Thames. Breny, LINcoLNSHIRE.—The new east window of the chancel of the church of S. Mary, erected last year from the designs of Mr. Wm. Scott Champion. has had the centre light filled with stained glass, the gift of Major L. Venner, of Cavesfield House, Whiteparish, Salisbury. The subject is Our Lord in Majesty, beneath which is a representation of the raising of Jairus’s daughter. The work has been carried out under the superin— tendence of the architect, by Messrs. Heaton, Butler, & Bayne. ———— CHIPS. It was decided by the Paddington Vestry at its last meeting to erect public baths and washhouses on a site for that purpose in Queen’s-road, Bays- water, at a cost of £9,000. The Metropolitan District Asylums Board have abandoned their intention of building an hospital on Peckham-rye for the south-eastern portion of the metropolis. Fresh advertisements have therefore to be issued, soliciting the offer of other sites. The Metropolitan Board of Works has approved of Mr. C. W. Todd’s plan for the formation of a new street leading out of Battersea-rise, Wandsworth- common, to be named Mabel’s-road, upon condition thatno barrier be at any time erected, or other ob- struction caused, to the free use by the public of the road. The Sheffield Town Council have resolved to construct street tramways. The offer of a private company was rejected. The magistrates of Kent have just determined to erect a new lunatic asylum, capable of accommo- dating 1,000 inmates. The outlay will be from £150,000 to £200,000. A bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin was un- veiled at New York on the 16th January. Building land in Rome at the present time is said be worth 60fr. the square yard, which is a serious difficulty in the way of improving and enlarging Rome as Florence has been improved and enlarged. Advices from the River Plate received in London on Tuesday bring news of the burning of the steamer “ America,” plying bet ween Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, witha loss of about 120 lives. The only English passenger lost was Mr. Peter Beare, a well- known civil engineer. The tower of Stowmarket parish church is re- ported to be inan unsafe condition.