Trinidad Asphalt. Viewed for the Aspect of Production

Foreword by PHILIP MOON, M.Inst.C.E. (Engineer and General Manager to the Bournemouth Gas and Water Company).The new gasworks at Poole-the ferro-concrete structures of which are described by Mr. Hale in the following paper-were rendered necessary by the continued and rapid development of the extensive area served by the Bournemouth Gas & Water Company. How rapid this development has been can be gathered from the following particulars with regard to the output of gas :- Year. Output of Gas. 1903 ... ... 537,819,000 cubic feet. 1914 ... ... 1,114,806,000 ,, ,, 1928 . . . . . . 2,468,504,000 ,, ,, 1930 . . . . . . 2,652,022,000 , , , , H.M. Hale

THE object of this paper is an attempt to overcome an unnecessary and irritating difficulty in connection with the design of steel pillars. This difficulty is due to the fact that within recent years the permissible working stresses have been and still are frequently altered, with the result that tables of safe loads on pillars are soon rendered obsolete and require to be recalculated, and, since the “straight line graphs” originally included in the London County Council General Powers Act of 1909 have been superseded in the London County Council Code of Practice of 1932 by a “curved graph” with a further complication of a permissible increase of stress in the case of eccentric loading, the preparation of such tables has become a laborious and thankless task. W. Cyril Cocking

THE Hawkes Bay district of New Zealand was visited by devastating earthquakes on February 3rd and 13th, 1931, which resulted in the virtual destruction of the business centre of the city of Napier and the partial destruction of the town of Hastings, 12 miles distant. Adjacent towns and villages also suffered great damage. The whole of a widespread area was grievously disturbed; 260 lives were lost, and the number of injured persons was considerable. The damage to properties and contents was estimated at between three and four millions. The havoc and devastation were comparable only to t h a t wrought in towns and villages in Flanders after heavy and continuous bombardment during the Great War. J.S. McAven