A Comparison of English and Foreign Building Laws

In 1924 the Government of New South Wales accepted the tender of Messrs. Dorman, Long & Co., Ltd., for the construction of a bridge across Sydney Harbour-the accepted price being £4,217,721 11s. 10d. The tender was for the construction of an arch span of 1,650 ft., and five steel girder approach spans on each side of the harbour, complete with approach piers, the total length of bridge being 3,770 ft. Abutment towers are also provided flanking the main arch at either end, and rising to a height of 285 ft. above mean sea level.

It has become a recognised practice nowadays for a newly elected President to commence his duties by composing an address to be read at the first meeting of the session over which he presides, and certainly I have found this to be one of the most difficult tasks I have ever undertaken. In searching for a subject I was at once brought face to face with the extraordinarily wide field of activities in which the Structural Engineer works. I am, however, helped to some degree by the fact that we are to discuss later on this evening the draft of it specification for one of the newer materials which have come to the aid of the engineer in recent years, so I shall make my remarks as short as possible. R.H. Harry Stanger

TE purpose of this paper is to discuss details and tendencies of current practice in the design and construction of bridges on the Federated Malay States Railways to allow of comparison with other countries where conditions are similar. It is suggested that a general exchange of summaries of this kind would tend to mitigate the existing unfortunate lack of liaison which causes engineers, even in neighbouring countries, to attack the same problems independently and, therefore, uneconomically. John Edwin Holmstrom