Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

62 BRITAIN AT WORK. Photo : Cassell & Co.t Ltd. TURNING A GRANITE COLUMN. entirely by hand a considerable amount of labour is necessarily expended before the roughness of the quarry gives place to the smooth surfaces and the sharp and true edges required by finished work. In order to make this article complete it is necessary to say a word about the turning of the large granite columns which are a feature of so many of our public buildings. A square stone of the necessary dimensions is procured from the quarry as already described, and in the stone-cutting yard this is roughly hewn into a cylindrical form. It is then ready for turning. The lathe is a powerful one, as columns about sixteen feet in length and about three feet in diameter are by no means uncommon. When the cylinder of stone begins to revolve on its axis, a series of circular steel cutters come into action, and, striking the rounded surface obliquely, the graceful contour of the classic column is lapidly evolved, and a surface is obtained which is ready for polishing. Aberdeen granite work is exported to almost every part of the globe, although within the last twenty years or so the almost prohibitive tariff imposed by the United States government has considerably dimin- ished the trade with that country. On the other hand, however, there is a rapidly increasing business being clone with the Australasian colonies, and also with South Africa, and there is every reason to expect that in the latter country there will be a still greater increase of trade. One feature of somewhat melancholy interest, in connection with the Aberdeen granite industry, is the large number of military monuments which have' been des- patched to South Africa, amongst them being those placed over the graves of Prince Christian Victor, General Woodgate, and gallant Dick - Cunyngham. The Prince Christian Victor memorial is a simple cross of Celtic design, cut from a block of granite quarried in the neighbourhood of Balmoral Castle. One of the last orders given by the late Queen Victoria was for a carved Celtic cross of the same stone, which has been erected at Hal moral in memory of her second son, the Duke of Coburg, and there also, set up by the tenantry on the Balmoral estate, is a massive monolith of Crathie granite in memory of the late Queen herself. In addition to the trade in the British colonies, there has been a steadily increasing demand on the Continent for polished Aber- deen granite; France, perhaps, beihg the best customer. French architects seem to prefer the red granites, and some magnifi- cent sarcophagi in this material have been despatched. An interesting example of a