The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-01-12 00:00:00

A HINT TO STONE MASONS.

The Times of Tuesday publishes the following letter :

Sir,—The remarks of your correspondent "Limited
Income" with regard to masons' work, which he pre-
dicts that architects will have as little to do with as
possible in future, call attention to an important
truth which it is wOnderful that the British inasone
so fatuously ignores. There can be no reasonable
doubt that masonry as a craft is destined to share
very much the same fate which has befallen the manu-
facture of wrought iron in this country, and that
it is only a question of time when the mason will find
his occupation gone. Twenty years ago masonry,
both ashlar and rubble, was almost universally em-
ployed in engineering works where stone was easily
procurable, and no work of any magnitude was ever
seen without its• huge " stone-field " and army of
hewers busily engaged in stone dressing. This state-of
things is now quite the exception. Engineers, where-
ever practicable, have learnt by this time to make their
own stone. The wonderful strides 'which have been
made of late years in the manufacture of Portland
cement at a moderate rate have brought cement
concrete largely into use wherever gravel or shingle
can be procured, and it is coming more and more
into favour every day. Take for example the
engineering works at Chatham Dockyard. The huge
graving dot,lrs constructed there of late years were
made of solid masonry, and the same material was
plentifully employed in the fitting-out basins. Now
what do we find? Why, that the walls of the exten-
sive works now under construction are built from top
to bottom entirely of concrete, and no more substan-
tial and excellent work can be found in this country.
A still more noticeable example of how masonry has
gone out of fashion is to be seen at the gigantic works
which the London and St. Katharine Docks Company
are carrying out for the extension of their Victoria
Dock. The walling of the new dock, some four miles
in extent, is being executed entirely in concrete and
by common labourers. The only stonework used is in
the quoins and culls of the entrance lock, and the
stones are mostly brought to the work ready
dressed from the quarries -in Cornwall. Pro-
bably in the whole history of engineering never
was there such an immense undertaking carried out
with such an absolute minimum of stone work,
and it cannot fail to be largely imitated in future
whenever circumstances are at all favourable.
Not only does concrete rank among the cheapest
and best of building materials, but its use renders
the builder almost wholly independent of skilled
labour. In consequence of this the work just men-
tioned has been carried on uninterruptedly for the
past two years without any fear of strikes on the part
of the contractors—navvies and labourers being far
too plentiful and sensible to indulge in such senseless
follies. As yet it is hardly possible that the mason
can be so thankfully ignored by the architect as by the
engineer, but much may yet be done by the aid of the
bricklayer to emancipate the builder from the try anny of
the mason until the increased use of concrete in architec-
ture will enable theiservices both of mason and bricklayer
to be dispensed with, except in cases of dire necessity.
Looking at these facts, it is melancholy to see the
British mason, with the terrible example of the
puddler and ironworker staring him in the face, refus-
ing to take advantage of the remaining term of his
existence and so hastening his imevitable doom.—l am,
Sir, your obedient servant, M. Inst. C.E.
January 5.