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BUILDING IDEAL HOMES
Never was irony better expressed tlian when the poor homeless
wanderer on a foreign shore wrote the immortal words, "Be:it ever so
humble, there's no place like ihome."
Blessed is that man who has a home of his own-even if there is a
mortgage on it and not a tower!
Love. of home is planted deep in the nature of man, for there man's
earliest joys are found.
Ward Beecher once said that home should" be an oratoirio of the
memory, singing to all our after-life melodies and harmonies of old
remembered joy. And Ruskin declared, "H-ome is the place of peacu;
the shelter not only from all injury, but from all terror, doubt, and
division."
Given the home the problem is to make it habitable, strong, and
lasting. Neither health?'nor happiness can be found in a dwelling that ic
-damp and draughty, with badly fitting windows and tumbledown walls.
Impressed by the importance of this the English Governmeiht, in order to
safeguard the homes of the people, is making special experiments under
the guidance of expert scientists, and is conducting elaborate tests with
Sall sorts of building materials.
At Garston, near Watford, a hundred men are working at this experi
mental house testing. I-ere is the Government Building Research Station.
Here a valuable service is being done for the community. Walls .that
crack, bricks that crumble, and panelling that shrinks receive special
treatment. All the work is of practical use.
They make their own weather and turn on a "concentrated essence of
storm." After this has done its work, the reason why the bricks have
cracked is discovered.
From all over the world data is collected and filed. An amazing sphere
Sof activity surrounds the duties of the Intelligence Officer. The Delhi
Legislative Chamber received special attentio~. So, too, the Conference.
Hall for the League of Nations at Geneva and the Town Hall in LMel
bourne.
Opportune is the time for South Australians to consider the value
of the building materials used in the construction .of their homes. Early
residences are passing away. Therein lies a grand opportunity. for
architects and contractors to construct buildings that willlast and at the
same time be an ornament to the districts in which they stand.
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