indow sill. When I saw
it the moon was shining on the water, making the scene singularly
effective. At one time the kitchens were lofty rooms, now one can hardly
stand upright in them, for the floors and the walls have not kept pace.

Another house I saw had eight steps of one foot each down to the front
door. Not many years ago the doorstep was on the road level. An
ironmonger's shop floor has sunk six feet in a similar way. One side of
the floor is describing a semicircle, and the walls have long been
cracked.

The "Crown and Anchor," the chief hotel in the place, had to be rebuilt,
for to walk its floors was "like being at sea in a heavy gale." The
floor of the dining-room had sunk so much that it was several feet below
the level of the roadway, and the windows afforded a beautiful view of
passing feet.

[Illustration: _T. Birtles photo._] [_Warrington._

BRINE PUMPING SHAFT IN A FIT.]

A jeweller had the novel experience of seeing his fireplace sink below
the level of the floor and his mantel-piece half buried. Even the police
station was not safe. It was built at a cost of L2,000, repairs to the
extent of L300 were soon needed, but it became so bad that it had to be
abandoned.

There are several streets in Northwich where the houses are simply
tobogganing into each other, and all over the place are houses which
have been condemned and now are closed. One street became suddenly
several feet wider than it used to be, for one side was sliding away. It
was afterwards found that the houses on that side had moved three feet
from their foundations, which were discovered under the kerb stones of
the pavement! The Marston Road sank 15 feet in forty years, and at last
had to be abandoned owing to a huge chasm many feet in width which
formed across it.

It is only fair that even the buildings of the salt works in the town
are not exempt from these subsidences, which, indeed, are due to their
activity. One photograph is given which shows a pumping shaft in a
serious epileptic fit, which ended in its total collapse. Some time ago
the curious sight might have been seen of a large wall travelling from
three to four feet away from the building of which it was once a part.
And in several of the salt works I found the walls parting in all
directions, the floors in the shape of an S, and whole blocks of
buildings waiting for the house-breaker.

One of the most remarkable features of these subsidences is that no loss
of hum