There is another point of disagreement between the interim and
the final Reports. In December the Commis- sioners wrote of the possibility of an entire reconstruction of the piers. They rejected that sch eme not because it was impossible in itself but because it would entail " enormous cost " and the closing of the- Cathedral. The final Report -says that " any attempt to rebuild the piers would inevitably affect the foundations, at present stable, and the results would be disastrous." We sincerely hope that the latest confidence of the Dean and Chapter's experts may be justified; but their own apparent contradictions compel us to remember, what we might have been able otherwise to forget, that other experts have always disagreed with their optimism. Unity of-opinion can probably never be obtained, but after what has happened we feel that some means should be sought at once of showing the public that the greatest of architectural and engineering opinion inclines definitely one way or the other with regard to the safety of the Cathedral.. The public has subscribed money handsomely, and it has a right to know where it stands.
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