THE NEW G.P.O.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1338, 16 January 1912, Page 4

THE NEW G.P.O.

READY'iN TEN WEEKS.

Messrs. J. and A. Wilson, contractors for the new General Post Office—the only all-stone building in Wellington—anticipate that their big job in Feat.herston Street will be within measurable distance, of completion some ton weeks hence. All the heavy stono work is now completed. The only stone slabs to set in position aro thoso covering one of tlio domes which ornament the two Featherstou Street cerners of the great edifice. These domes aro built lo last, l/sually a dome is covered in zinc, lead, or even copper, but .saniplliing as substantial as it is original has been substituted for plate metal. The dome coTisists of six inches of concrete, a damp course of half an inch of Neuchatol asnhiiit, and then an outer covering of six-inch thick slabs of Tonga Island stone. The whole of the southern for Panama Street) wing of the building hns bsen finished off in plaster with a facing of cement, and the men are now engaged in similar work in the northern win},' where one of tlio giant cranes still lifts a useful arm high above the roof. This nranc will be dismantled next week, and tlio gaps in the various doors and roof now occupied by its superstructure will l>f> closed up at once. The main post and telegraph office still awaits the plasterer, but that tradesman is almost a minus quantity in Wellington at the present time. Messrs. ,1. nml A. Wilson could find work for twenty efficient plasterers at Ms. a day at unci' , . The electric Imhr men are swarming all nver the biiildiim. forming a network of black pipes for the conduct of wire-; to every department in the structure. The electric elevators are on the water, and will bo here this inuntli.