THE basins of swimming baths should always be constructed in such a way that loss of water will be avoided as much as possible. Evaporation evidently cannot be avoided; it is still essential to ensure complete and permanent impermeability to water in the construction of the bottom and side walls of the basin. These parts must also be able to resist the eventual chemical action of water; moreover, they must have a certain resistance to eventual subsidence of the soil. Alexandre Rywosch
Lieut.-Col. H. S. ROGERS, C.M.G., D.S.O. (President of the Institution of Structural Engineers), extended a very cordial welcome to Dr. Cullen and his fellow members of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. It was both a privilege and a pleasure, he said, to offer a welcome, and he invited Dr. Cullen to preside.
THE title given to this paper, “ Floors for Industrial Purposes,” may suggest that it is intended to cover floors and industries of all kinds, and it is desirable to indicate at the start the limitations to which it is subject. In the first place no attention will be given to floors in what may be termed purely chemical industries, for these raise problems rather outside the scope of the author’s experience. This restriction will not be entirely rigid, for in the discussion of chemical attack on flooring materials some of the manufacturing processes mentioned may well be regarded as coming under the term “chemical industry.” In the second place it will not be possible to consider the various forms of proprietary floorings made by specialist firms for use in cases where problems of chemical attack are so severe as to make normal flooring materials quite unsuitable. This second restriction is in many ways a natural corollary to the first. Though these restrictions reduce the scope of the paper, it is thought that the problems which are covered are of direct interest to both chemical and structural engineers. R. Fitzmaurice and F.M. Lea
Mr. W. T. HALCROW, President, British Section, Societe des Ingbnieurs Civils de France, handed to Monsieur L. P. Brice the Du-Plat-Taylor medal, which had been awarded to him for his paper entitled “Dunkirk Harbour Extension Works,” considered to be the best paper read before the British Section of the Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France, during the session 1937-38.