303
THE ESTATES GAZETTE
February 25, 1899.
ever would be, a city of bricks, and he would still hold to that statement; for bricks had now been brought into general use in all parts of the metropolis. With regard to the nuisances referred to in the paper, there was no doubt that brickmaking under the clamp system would before long have to be carried on outside the metropolitan area. The fumes were certainly most objectionable, and were likely to remain so, for in his opinion there was no remedy. Mr. Crouch thought it would be a great advantage to have a greater depth acknowledged by the owners, but they were generally pretty mean. They would often find that the depth which they allowed was the maximum (laughter). He could say from experience—and he had manufactured millions of bricks—that when they got to a depth of about 30ft., there was an end to the value of the clay ; that certainly ought to be the maximum depth. There were, of course, very many circumstances to consider before brickmaking could be carried on wTith success. If the field was so situated that the cost of carriage would be heavy, and there was no market within a measurable distance, then the clay would practically be of no value at all for development. On the other hand, there were many cases in which the industry could be carried on with very considerable advantages, and it ■would pay landlords to look round and see whether a portion of their property could not be used for that purpose. The subject, taken as a whole, was certainly not a very attractive one, unless it took one’s fancy. In the first place, brickmaking was a very dirty kind of occupation, and he had often found it extremely difficult to obtain assistance—some gentlemen would come to a brickfield with patent leather boots and top hats (laughter). It was generally considered that brickmaking was a very profitable undertaking—nowadays people rushed to it, from stockbrokers and bankers down to bootmakers (laughter)—but he had known very many cases in which a substantial amount of capital had been wasted. This was, of course, the outcome of rash speculation, and it occurred mostly in cases where professional advice_ was not sought. In dealing with the valuation of brickfields, Mr. Crouch had confined himself to valuations from the freeholder’s point of view for the purpose of letting on lease. It was certainly a very wide subject, and he had often consulted solicitors as to the best way of drawing out a lease which would provide for all possible contingencies. In his opinion each case should be dealt with on its own merits ; an all-round rule could not be applied. The valuer should take everything at what he considered was its fair value to the two parties concerned, and should also give due consideration to all the circumstances under which the valuation was made ; it should be considered whether the plant and fittings were serviceable and applicable to those works.
Mr. F. B. Buckland (Fellow, Windsor) seconded the vote of thanks. He remarked that he had not often troubled the members of that Institution with opinions of his own, but, having had some little experience in the letting of brickfields and the manufacture of bricks, he would like to say a few words. He was sure it must have occupied a very large portion of Mr. Crouch’s time to prepare so excellent and valuable a paper, and they were all indebted to him very greatly for it (hear, hear). Brickmaking in itself was an industry which was not of very great interest to the British public— to them as professional men it was another matter.^ Furthermore, he did not think that the brickmaker was a man who commended himself to the public generally. Brickmaking, as they were all aware, was an art, and it was a very ancient and important industry. Having observed that bricks as now used were introduced into this country some time within the last three centuries just after the Great Fire of London, Mr. Buckland went on to refer to a few points mentioned in the paper, remarking that he thought it necessary, in granting a lease, to insert a clause indemnifying the freeholder against any injury done to adjoining property.
Mr. G. Wragge (Visitor), whilst admitting that ashes was not a very savoury subiect to discuss, suggested that gentlemen who had'brick-fields to let, and at the same time objected to ashes, should endeavour to discover some means by which bricks could be manufactured without the use of ashes. The speaker proceeded to remark that the brickmaker, although noted for his drunken habits in years gone by, had now become a very respectable member of. society. With regard to the carriage of bricks, he had never heard of bricks being sent to Sydney, but he had heard of bricks being taken to Trinidad, for instance, as ballast.
Mr. J. J. Hobson (Visitor) also took part in the discussion, remarking that the rent and royalty depended upon the situation of the brickfield and the facilities for its working. The amount of royalty should not exceed five per cent, on the value of the bricks sold.
The discussion having been closed, the resolution was put to the meeting and carried with enthusiasm.
Mr. Crouch, in returning thanks, said that his remarks on the carriage of bricks to Australia were intended to show that railway rates
judges held that the basis of the valuation should be the royalty and other rents of the preceding year, and, accordingly, all parochial assessments were so based. The reason for this method of assessment seemed obvious enough. In the former case, “Regina r. Westbrook,” the tenant paid £159 in rent and royalty, and the sessions had found that £100 would be the fair basis of valuation. “ It may well be,” said Lord Denman, “that, although at the end of the year the lessee has made so many bricks that he can afford to pay £150 in royalty to his landlord, he could not prudently at the beginning of the year contract at all events to pay more than £100, and, if so, the latter rather than the former will be the sum at which the land may reasonably be expected to let from year to year.”
VALUATION.
In regard to the valuation of a brickfield, Mr. Crouch said that, generally speaking, the value depended upon supply and demand, but it was the duty of surveyors to estimate what the probable effect of this economic law would be upon any given land. It was safe to assume as a general rule that an acre of brick-earth a foot thick would in round numbers make a million bricks of the usual size, though much, of course, depended upon the amount of maiming and soiling required. An acre of brick-earth lft. thick was worth in royalties at 2s. a thousand, therefore £100. The surface rent was, as a general rule, the average agricultural rent of the district. This should not be difficult to estimate with a fair knowledge of the neighbourhood. But the value of the earth was another matter. In his book on brickmaking, Mr. Edward Dobson put the average cost of making clamp-burnt bricks at £1 Is. lOd. per thousand, including 2s. 6d. for royalty. First, let the valuer estimate the cost of production of the bricks ; secondly, the price to be obtained ; and thirdly, when both these are done, what royalty and surface-rent can be relied upon, and the price an investor would give for the land, to return him a fair margin of profit on the transaction.
In estimating the cost of production, the cost of the necessary plant, wash mills, pug mills, and the rest of the impedimenta must be considered, and the surveyor must satisfy himself that there was sufficient earth to work to make it worth while for a brickmaker to take the land. It was an axiom among brickmakers that unless the earth was 3ft. thick it was not worth working; but he would say the thicker the better, but work out in figures the cost of getting the shallower earth, reckon the cost of the necessary removal of plant, and upon this base the estimate of the profit of the undertaking.
If the land was a considerable distance from a town, the accommodation of the moulders and labourers must be considered. It was customary for the foreman to live at the yard, and a house or cottage was accordingly built for him, and it might also be necessary to build cottages for all the labourers and moulders. Should, however, the field be in close proximity to a town another question arises as to the probability of the works being injuncted as a nuisance.
The breeze, chalk, sand and water—a very variable quantity—must all be reckoned with, and the cartage would be found a large item. The other items in the cost of producing bricks were less variable, such as cost of superintendence, appliances, interest on capital. In regard to the price to be obtained for the manufactured brick, here again the cost of carriage would be an important consideration.
THE DISCUSSION.
Mr. Joseph Jopling (Fellow, Wallington, Surrey), in moving a vote of thanks to Mr. Crouch for his paper, remarked that this had been particularly interesting to him, inasmuch as he had made a special study of the subject dealt with. His remarks would therefore be based on personal experience gained at a very heavy price and not on theory. It was, of course, a well-known fact that the finer clays were not extensively used for brickmaking. Mr. Crouch had made a very useful reference to the question of analysis, which, in his opinion, should always be paid for—he was not a believer in amateur efforts. With regard to the rating of brickfields, he had read the very interesting paper submitted by Mr. Boyle, Q.C., at a recent meeting of that Institution, and was of opinion that if they could only apply to brickfields the same system, which, it was suggested, should be applied to coal mines, it would work very satisfactorily. Each case should be taken on its own merits. He had dealt with some thousands of brickfields, both in England and abroad, and he had never found the circumstances and conditions alike in two cases. To his mind the proper way of assessing the rateable value of a brickfield was to take the outgoings and receipts, and to ascertain the letting value of the property, whether freehold or leasehold. With regard to brickmaking in the neighbourhood of London, Mr. Crouch had furnished them with some very interesting details. He had said many years ago that London was, is, and
the lecturer said that samples of the earths could be taken by test holes or by boring. The borers used were very much alike. The harder top soils, such as gravel, required some amount of machinery to work them; but if the top soil was only light, then the operations could generally be managed by hand machines.
Before visiting the ground for the purpose of obtaining samples, it was desirable to ascertain, if possible, the nature of the soil, if any, overlaying the clay; this might save the carrying of unnecessary tackle. The borers ״were simply large gimlets, some being spiral, others straight, and used according to the nature of the work to be performed. It would be found that the straight or straight grooved worked the easier, though the specimens taken were not so well preserved by them. The ׳spiral would take out a complete section of the earth bored without disarrangement; but the straight borers were apt to break the specimens, by their action forcing the earth up the groove instead of merely taking out a complete section, as the spiral borer will do. If the object was only to ascertain the depth of the earth, the straight borers were sufficient; but in other cases preference might perhaps be given to the spiral form. The borer was fitted at the top with a screw hole to take lengthening bars. It was generally 5ft. long, the twist or gouge being about 2ft. or 3ft. of this length, and the remainder of it square, and a handle was attached by nuts and bolts. Two assistants then proceed to drive the borer into the ground by screwing it in the same fashion as an ordinary gimlet by revolutions. It would generally be found advisable to surround the bore-hole ־with boards for the assistants to walk upon in order to prevent the earth being pressed into the hole when the borer was withdrawn. About lft. of earth was the most convenient amount to remove at one time ; the borer should then be carefully withdrawn by pulling or lifting it out. If too stiff to pull out by hand, it could generally be raised with the shoulder under the handle. Just before the borer finally left the hole, any loose earth round the mouth should be brushed away to avoid any of the top soil becoming mixed with the sample. The sample taken out must, of course, be carefully preserved if analysis be required.
Having explained fully a general method of mechanical analysis, Mr. Crouch went on to deal with the actual manufacture of bricks as carried on in the neighbourhood of London, and to give an account of the materials and plant in use.
BRICKFIELD TENANCIES.
In letting a brickfield to a tenant, the clay was usually paid for by a fixed annual surface-rent and a royalty per thousand bricks of the usual size made. As a rule, a minimum number of bricks was required to be made annually—a precaution necessary to ensure a regular income to the lessor. These royalties were paid to the lessor or his agent once a year, at Michaelmas, and it then became necessary to estimate the number of bricks to bo paid for. The usual method was for the lessee to produce his moulders’ books, in which were written from week to week the number of bricks moulded by him. The moulder, being paid per thousand, would see that the full amount was stated, and it was usual in the trade for the moulder to surrender his book to his employer once a year for this purpose. The careful surveyor would no doubt once or twice, or as often as occasion should require, visit the brickyard, and ascertain exactly the number of stools at work during the season; and, he thought, as an additional precaution, to avoid mistakes, it was advisable at the end of each season, before the earth was dug in autumn, to run the tape over the worked or unworked portion, whichever was the easiest to do, and mark the map of the yard accordingly, noting the depth of earth taken out. He had generally found in this covenant that an allowance of five per cent, ■was made to the lessee for the waste he was put to by the destruction of the top and bottom of the clamps, owing to weather, firing, etc., and also to spoilt Dricks. This was, however, in the nature of a perquisite, as the lessor’s earth was used up all the same.
Before any of the brick-earth was dug the lessee should covenant to remove the top soil or vegetable mould, a process known as encallowing, and to store it in some convenient part to be replaced when the brick-earth was taken out, or at the end of the tenancy. The remainder of the land, which was not being actually worked, if agricultural, was generally to be cultivated according to the custom of the country.
The ultimate use of the worked-out brickfield must necessarily dictate appropriate covenants ; if the land would then be suitable for building, it would be necessary to insert a covenant to leave the land properly levelled to a fair surface, a similar precaution being necessary in the event of its being required for agricultural purposes. In this event a plan and sections should be prepared and attached to the lease.
Proceeding to deal with the question of the rating of brickfields, Mr. Crouch said two cases bearing on this were “Regina v. Westbrook,” and “Regina v. Everest.” In these cases the
fllljB Jlttrfo!jors’ Institution.
THE MANAGEMENT AND VALUATION OF BRICKFIELD8.
The ordinary general meeting of the Surveyors’ Institution was held at the temporary offices, Savoy-street, W.C., on Monday evening, when a paper was read by Mr. J. L. Crouch (Professional Associate) upon “ The Management and Valuation of Brickfields.” Mr. T. M. Rickman (Member of the Council) occupied the chair in the unavoidable absence of the President, Mr. Robert Vigers. There were also present : —
MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL.—Messrs. Daniel Watney, Elias Pitts-Squarey, Albert Buck, Alfred Savill, and George Langridge.
FELLOWS.—Messrs. A. E. Christy, W. J. Watson, Charles F. Slater, James H. Shearer, G. Kerry Rix, Thomas Martin, A. Macdonald Brown, Heber G. Martin, J. F. Kemp-Smith, Alfred Roods, Joseph Jopling, G. R. Harrison, J. W. Kemsley, R. F. Sturge, Herbert Potter, Arthur Goulding, G. W. Sadler, jun., Frank Ward, Thos. H. Mellor, E. T. Tutt, Lewis H. Strouts, George Higgins, Godfrey C. Lambert, John II. Oakley, H. E. Boxhall, J. H. Sherwin, Richard Sentire, J. W. Tyler, Stanley Parker, Harry Hunt, W. H. Strudwick, F. B. Buck-land, J. Whitton Aris, Wm. Weaver, Dendy Watney, H. Chatfeild Clarke, Arthur Brown, F. W. Jarman, H. C. Newmarch, P. Doller, G. F. W. Hampton, Harold E. Moore, and Robt. B. Mann.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATES.—Messrs. Allen Drew, G. H. Smith, Philip Peebles, G. Stanford, W. Hugh Kemsley, Frank Melrose, A. F. A. Trehearne, H. T. Mullett, Joseph Stower, E, B. Stoneliam, A. B. Richardson, P. Wontner Smith, Herbert T. Scobble, Chas. S. Orwin, Thos. S. Dangerfield, J. H. Mellen-fleld, G. M. Nicholson, C. W. Berry, Edwin B. B. Newton, Ernest E. A. Lee, Harold Bentley, H. G. Assiter, S. A. Wilde, and H. J. Watson.
STUDENT.—Mr. Thos. Brent.
THE PAPER.
Mr. Crouch in his paper gave an interesting account of the geology of brick-earth, mode of taking specimens, analysis, a resumé of brick-rnaking as practised near the metropolis, and the description of implements in use, the covenants of a brickfield lease, the assessment and rating of a brickfield, and the valuation. Dealing with the former subject, he said that brick-earths might be classified under three distinct heads, viz., clays, loams, and marls, and in this order they could be separately described. They were, however, all formed by the same process of nature, being deposited either by the sea or rivers^ and accordingly named marine and fluviatile deposits respectively. As a general rule the strata were made up of several distinct layers recurring many times, in the same order, consequent upon the conditions of the overflow of the river, thus : A river bearing materials in suspension overflows its banks, and inundates the surrounding valley ; the coarser particles speedily subside, the finer particles rest upon those first subsided, and lastly, the very finest mud settles on the top. In each successive year the river repeats this operation, the coarse material being deposited on the hardened mud from the previous flood, and the accession of strata going on in exactly the same way.
Having quoted tables, one of which showed the general percentage theoretically of clay, Mr. Crouch proceeded to remark that its distinctive characteristic was its plasticity, which, he said, depended upon the interstitial but not chemically combined water ; for, though a powdered brick would absorb a great deal of water, it was impossible to make it in the least degree plastic. The degree of plasticity depended upon the fineness of the particles in the clay.
Kaolin was derived from the decomposition of granite occurring in two stages known as china-clay and china-stone ; and granite, to go a little further back in geological order, was composed of three minerals, quartz, felspar, and mica. In the process of decomposition from granite into kaolin the quartz remaining unchanged was mechanically washed away, as° for instance, by the action of running water. At a later stage than the felspar, mica chemically changed to some extent, but it should be either absent (from the same mechanical washing away) or should be colourless and non-ferru° ginous.
Kaolinising was a term used for the process of decomposition, and was generally described as resulting from the action of carbonic acid in the atmosphere upon the silicates of potash or soda, removing them as soluble carbonates, whilst the moisture in the atmosphere united with remaining silicates of alumina to form kaolin. This china-stone and china-clay was worked at St. Austell and Lee Moor near Plympton, the process of manufacture being as follows. The soft decomposed rock is broken down and exposed on an inclined plane to a stream of water which at once becomes thick with the clay and mica. This is conducted into trenches called micas where the mica settles down, and is then conducted into pans or tanks from 9in. to 12in. deep, which become gradually filled up with the pure clay. The water is then drawn off and the clay run into a roofed-in floor with subjacent hot air flues called drys. This is generally then cut into oblong blocks and the process is at an end.
Touching upon the mode of taking specimens,