Issue 1

A VISIT to the town of Wisbech, "The Capital of the Fens," standing on the River Nene, almost half-way between Peterborough and Kings Lynn, will repay anyone interested in modern ferro-concrete construction. Here we have one of the most elegant bridges in this country spanning the river, unique in its design-the largest portal span in Britain-and close by the newly constructed Nene Quay River Wall which forms the subject of this paper. Andrew Hood

SIR,-I have to thank Mr. Gordon Welch for his kindly criticism of my article which appeared in the September issue. His remarks are in accordance with the mathematical implications of the slope deflection of isolated members, but it is interesting to note that in Clause No. 17 of the preliminary draft revision of the Institution report, resisting moment of connections is made the criterion of pillar restraint. My assessment is on more conservative lines, for I do not put it forward for buildings with wooden joist floors, unencasedsteel, corrugated steel or fully glazed sides. In some clauses of the Draft there seems to be an underlying assumption that steel will be encased and floors made fire-resisting ; but, in my opinion, Clause No. 17 needs strengthening in order to reward the design of rigid type buildings and penalise those with wooden floor joists, etc.

-Mr. H. J. DEANE, B.Eng., M.Inst.C.E. (Past President), proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Jackaman, and said that the information given concerning the driving and screwing of the piles would be valuable to members. Mr. Deane added that when he had first read the paper he had been disappointed because it had not contained so much data as he would have liked, but fortunately Mr. Jackaman had given some supplementary information at the meeting, and Mr. Deane suggested that that should be published in The Structural Engineer. For example, the diagram relating to the screwed piles and the strata penetrated, and the notes of the progress of the sinking of the piles, were valuable.

Introduction It is the duty of Local Authorities to interpret and administer the law relating to the control of building. H. Ferrington

When preparing this paper for the Institution, the time at my disposal was unexpectedly curtailed, and I regret I was unable to include in it the following information which I hope will be found of interest to members. C.J. Jackman

The writer wishes to preface this paper by drawing attention to its title, which is slightly misleading, and might instead have been "The Well-Known Facts of Stone Decay and a Suggested Remedy for the Present and Future." E.F. Power

Mr. CURZON HARPER (Member) said the excellence of the paper as published in The Structural Engineer had been considerably added to by the many interesting slides the author had exhibited, and, personally, he regarded it as one of the best papers and one of the best displays of slides he had ever seen. As to the desirability and advantage of constructing roads round towns instead of widening those already existing in the towns, he contended there was in most cases nothing for the shopkeeper to fear from this type of development. The quieter a street was from the point of view of general traffic the better it was adapted for shopping because those quieter shopping streets became what might be called open air arcades. Those who had had the pleasure of going shopping with their wives would have noticed the tendency, explainable only in the feminine mind, not to follow down one line of shops but to go from one side of the street, to the other, and there was obviously an advantage in limiting the amount of fast vehicular traffic from that point of view. The author had shown what an interesting feature old town gates could be, instancing the one at Conway which, although only 9 ft. wide, accommodated a large volume of traffic. He, himself, would like to see included the old gate in Ludlow, Shropshire, which was on the main road from Hereford to Shrewsbury. There the highway was only about 7 ft. between kerbs but it was an excellent old example which he would be sorry to see done away with or even made an isolated feature. It was part of the old town wall and, whenever he travelled that way, he always made a point of going through that old gate. As regards the excellent slides that had been shown, if he might venture one small criticism it would be that so many of them were aerial views. Of course, it followed that if a scheme looked good from the air in many cases it was also good on the ground, but that did not necessarily follow. Reference had been made by the author to the advantage of automatic signals and it would have been valuable if more could have been said with regard to the diagram of the timing of these signals, so as to show the advantages or disadvantages of automatic signals worked by the vehicles themselves, as was being done in Cornhill. He believed this system had decided advantages. The view of the Rainham by-pass led him to suggest that a by-pass like that had a double use. It not only served the purpose for which it was intended originally but it also enabled the more leisurely traffic to use the old route in comfort. Very often that was desirable and, in that particular case, those who wished to do so could see such features as the excellent church to which attention had been drawn. Another matter which interested him was the view shown of the bridge at Barking. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he happened to be deputy borough engineer at Barking and some years ago it fell to his lot in a very humble capacity to prepare data to oppos