THE POST OFFICE DESTROYED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1544, 28 April 1887, Page 3

THE POST OFFICE DESTROYED.

DAMAGE £40,000 ' Wellington, April 25. j| A destructive fife commenced at 4.45 a.m., it ia supposed m the pceea room of the telearnph office. The telegraphic room, telephone exchange, ocoountant's and Pestmaater.G-'nera'i'a btanch, Customs ( office, post; and mail iffiof, at 6 a.m. being / completely destroyed. Thera is little ohanco of saving the remainder of the building. The damage ia estimated at between thirty and forty thousand pounds Very little has beau bayed except mails and a few telephones. All telegraphio instruments were debtroyed. Accounts as lo the origin are very conflicting. 7 hi me was discovered by a woman coming to clean the office. She asserts it appeared to be m the centre of the building, where the new eltctrio light apparatus ia being Pieoed. The fire spread with great rapidity,. and although the building is of ; briok the two top storeys were ono. mass of flames withiu an hour and a half of the outbreak. [This message has been Bent out by a special messenger to the nearest telegraph station. Communication will be temporarily restored during the day, but it ' will be difficult to get the work though.] Later. The building was completely gutted. Nine brandies were playing on it. There are heavy losses m records bu^. telegraph documents were mostly In a safe. About £2000 worth of telephones were saved. Everything was cleaned out of the post ■ office, and the employees began sorting the mailß at once m the street. There is no insurance whatever. The oontents of Nathan's store adjoining were damaged by water. The telegraph office is now located m another building and iB expected to be ready for work this afternoon. Luckily a complete Bet of tables and instruments designed for Napier, were iv store and ready to send up at once. The poßt office is temporarily located m a shed on the wharf. The building was only finished m 1884 The lower storey walls are intact, but the upper will probably have to be pulled down. [This message was telephoned by the coureeey of the Wellington and Manawatu ltailway Company a'oog their pr vate lite to Palmerston North whence it was distributed by telegram,]