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.
