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sheds and railway stations only. In this country they will be found to be unsuitable. In Australia they have been found not to answer; and have become unsaleable—hence the heavy shipments of them that have been made to New Zealand.

The shape of these iron houses are the most unpleasing to the eye that can be well imagined.

Were iron houses constructed according to designs supplied from this colony, and all external parts of them galvanized, they would be much superior to wooden buildings, though exceedingly expensive. They ought to have some pretensions to architectural design, and able to withstand the effects of earthquakes—gales of wind—and a saline atmosphere: the absence of these three requisites are very apparent in Mr. Allen’s iron store opposite the Post Office.

This, and the recent Earthquake, leads us to the conclusion that brick or stone of themselves, for the high walls of a building are unsafe, and therefore ought to be discontinued, unless combined with iron or wood, and simply forming a fire-proof covering to a building.

Buildings with their sides and roofs covered with slate, offer great protection from fire, and are not subject to decay; but from their brittleness they are only serviceable on the side of a building on which there is no traffic.

Galvanized corrugated iron is stronger than slate, affords protection from fire, is very durable and keeps all internal timbers well ventilated, which is the best preservative they can have,—it affords protection from fire, up to a certain degree of heat, that degree attained, it warps, bursts the rivulets, and leaves the frame a prey to fire—as in the case of the great fire at San Francisco; but irrespective of this one disadvantage, as a covering to buildings it is far superior to boarding.

The common sheet iron, corrugated only, is not recommended, even with careful painting it corrodes, and as there are points beyond the reach of the paint brush, there it corrodes as rapidly as a red pine board would rot. An instance of this may be seen in Mr. Warburton’s iron store, where the ends of the corrugated sheets resting on the ground plate, are eaten into holes by corrosion. Iron houses—such as imported from England—are in nine cases out of ten, so deficient in the strength of the timbers and bracing, as to be unfit for a windy country like New Zealand. In England they are used as

Specific cohesion and strength of materials.

From the above we learn that Iron is about ten times stronger than Yellow Deal, (a pine of great strength) and yellow deal is ten times stronger than Portland Stone, forty-one times the strength of common Free Stone, and thirty times stronger than brick.

This, and the recent Earthquake, leads us to the conclusion that brick or stone of themselves, for the high walls of a building are unsafe, and therefore ought to be discontinued, unless combined with iron or wood, and simply forming a fire-proof covering to a building.

Buildings with their sides and roofs covered with slate, offer great protection from fire, and are not subject to decay; but from their brittleness they are only serviceable on the side of a building on which there is no traffic.

Galvanized corrugated iron is stronger than slate, affords protection from fire, is very durable and keeps all internal timbers well ventilated, which is the best preservative they can have,—it affords protection from fire, up to a certain degree of heat, that degree attained, it warps, bursts the rivulets, and leaves the frame a prey to fire—as in the case of the great fire at San Francisco; but irrespective of this one disadvantage, as a covering to buildings it is far superior to boarding.

The common sheet iron, corrugated only, is not recommended, even with careful painting it corrodes, and as there are points beyond the reach of the paint brush, there it corrodes as rapidly as a red pine board would rot. An instance of this may be seen in Mr. Warburton’s iron store, where the ends of the corrugated sheets resting on the ground plate, are eaten into holes by corrosion. Iron houses—such as imported from England—are in nine cases out of ten, so deficient in the strength of the timbers and bracing, as to be unfit for a windy country like New Zealand. In England they are used as

In the course of their enquiries and inspection two things have invariably presented themselves, in those parts of the town were the most damage occurred, namely dilapidated buildings and defective foundations; buildings erected on loose gravelly, or swampy foundations; buildings with the ground plates, partially, or entirely decayed, or destitute of braces—have suffered severely while both houses, and stores, where the timbers were sound and the foundations good, have escaped without almost any injury, even brick houses, on a good foundation have escaped material injury—for instance, Mr. Hickson’s private residence on a foundation of concreted clay; Captain Henton’s house; Mr. Eades’ store, on rock; Mr. Holdsworth’s house in Karori Road, and others.

From Mr. Bowler’s Office to Kumutoto Stream, good buildings have really suffered very little, the foundations along here being rock, cropping out, or within three or four feet of the surface. In one place, the chimneys in three two-story houses are uninjured, and these buildings are plastered inside, which is also uninjured. Mr. Laing’s two-story building with plaster front, large brick oven, and chimney, hardly received any damage. From this evidence it will appear that a good foundation assists in no small degree to preserve a house from damage during an earthquake.

Before building, the foundation should be the first consideration. The building sites in Wellington are generally composed of loose gravel, fine and coarse