| Description | Has sent for attorney who had the management of the sale of land at Redcar to find out if Mr Lister ever gave directions for making an offer to you.
'I have been in Loftus and examined the Fire House. lt has been originally built upon a very bad principle and I am surprised how it has stood so long. lt has indeed been constantly propped
up three or four times every year and beams of wood put in at different places which are frequently catching fire. My intention was to raise the walls so as to put the woodwork of the roof out
of the reach of fire and to take away all the wooden beams in the Iower part of the house and run a small brick arch about 6 feet wide along the front of the fires which will prevent all accidents
by fire and at the same time, by making the people work the fires under the cover of the arch, hinder the ashes, dust and soot from lying about the house which causes so much dirt at present and is principally the occasion of the blackness in the alum. The works may go on with the house as it is but it is a constant expense and must increase yearly and a thorough repair in the way it now is will cost above one hundred pounds and will be liable to all the present objections and will not last above 7 or 8 years besides the danger of being burnt. The method I propose will cost three or four hundred pounds and I will venture to say may last 40 years and I am sure it will be such an improvement in the making the alum that with 4 pans going which will save upwards of £50 a year |