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The Structural Engineer, Volume 36, Issue 13, 1958
FIFTY YEARS AGO the structural use of timber was entirely governed by the known properties of the raw material in its natural state. These properties had become known by trial and error and in consequence were defined by limitations rather than potentialities. The natural limitations on available dimensions, weakness in shear, inability to make a good tension joint or to maintain continuity around bends or at the ends of pieces, no effective control over moisture movement, no systematic evaluation of strength, no constructive knowledge of pathology and treatment, no apparent escape from unidirectional stress distribution : all factors which operated in the development of empirical techniques and the establishment of a fairly rigid code of traditional practice. P.O. Reece
Photographs of Mr. L. E. Kent, Mr. J. Singleton-Green, Lt.-Col. G. W. Kirkland, Mr. E. N. Underwood and Mr. T. Bredin
JUST AS Louis XIV of France is reputed to have said to the Paris Parliament in 1655, “L’etat c’est moi,” so Major Reginald Ferdinand Maitland might well say on this Jubilee Year that in him is represented the Institution of Structural Engineers. During the twenty-eight years of his devoted service as Secretary of the Institution he has provided the continuity of purpose, the wealth of experience and the driving force which has made the Institution the outstanding and world famed technical body that it is today. His influence to this end on the long list of eminent engineers who have yearly filled the Presidential Chair has had to be felt personally to be appreciated. Added to this, are the dignity, charm and friendly manner which have induced the greatest respect and loyalty from his staff, and have made successive Presidents and Councils look on him as a personal friend. J. Guthrie Brown