POST OFFICE TOWER

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 262, 4 August 1942, Page 4

POST OFFICE TOWER

Twisted Round By ’Quake FLOORS BELOW EVACUATED ' The whole top of the tower on the General Post Office, Wellington, was twisted round for eight inches, from south to north, by the earthquake early on Sunday morning. It is. considered that only the weight of the bells, amounting to three or four tons, anchored It in position. It was miraculous that the whole structure, made dangerous by the earthquake of June 24, did not come cradling down. Demolition, ordered after the previous earthquake, is to start today. The three floors immediately below tlio tower, which is over the oldest section of the post office, have been vacated right down to the basement. This includes the ■ cafeteria, where hundreds of staff members are served daily, but the kitchen block is not in the endangered section of the building, and a limited service will be maintained.

The floors beneath the tower will remain evacuated till its demolition is complete. This involves a large part of the mailroom, and the back of the building, facing Post Office Square, has been closed to access. Outward mails were formerly dispatched from here, but arrangements have been made to handle all mails from the Panama Street entrance, and through a chute which has been installed in a -window opening on to Grey Street. Damage done to the P. aud T. Department’s Pipitea store by the June visitation has been increased, and the top floor has been condemned 'for demolition. OLD LIBRARY BLOCK ’Quake Ravages In Interior Condemned ten years ago as oldfasliloned and almost unsafe, the old free public library on the corner of Wakefield and Mercer Streets has just about ended its long career of usefulness in civic life. Sunday morning’s earthquake, coming so soon after the June disturbance, twisted and tore at ■the old building in a manner that needs to be seen to be believed. Such was ■the shattering effect of the ’quake on the interior walls, that the women •who have been employed for the past two years working for the Metropoli■ton Patriotic Committee were ordered •to vacate the premises yesterday morning, as the building was considered to bo unsafe. A peep into the old news room upstairs shows how wise was that decision. Plaster has been torn down, exposing walls cracked in all directions; part of the roof has fallen in; and with every puff of wind yesterday grit was being scattered over heaps of garments that lay partially buried under rubble. In this room women had been sorting old clothes for Russian relief, and. here must have been 2000 or 3000 garments lying in heaps under ■the rubbish. These will, of course, be gathered up and cleaned. Damage is not so marked in the other rooms; still, it is bad enough to condemn the structure. The opinion is held that it will have, to be demolished at the earliest possible moment, as another earthquake such as that experienced on Sunday morning might easily topple it over in tlie streets, to the confusion of traffic and possible loss of life. The women workers have yet to be provided with accommodation in which to carry on their useful job.

PARAPET MASONRY City Council’s Powers To Enforce Removal There were thousands of tons of masonry in useless parapets and ornamentations on city buildings which were a menace not only to workers in these buildings but to the public, said Cr. C. M. Bowden, in asking at last night’s Wellington City Council meeting if Hie by-laws could be altered to require the removal of such masonry, and prevent further useless ornamentations.

The mayor, Mr. Hislop, said that if n building was dangerous at the actual time, of such an occurrence as an earthquake the’ council could .require the position to be remedied. There had to bo actual proof of danger. Nothing could be done, except to ask owners to act, in cases where it could only be said that a danger would be possible under cel-tain circumstances. It must bo remembered that, places of the typo referred to had been built, according to Hion existing by-laws. The whole matter could bo further gone into when a full survey of the situation bad been made. DAMAGE AT OTAKI ( p>y Telogniph — Press Association.) OTAKI, August 3. Severe damage was done by the earthquake early on Sunday morning, specially at Otaki beach, where two residences were ruined. The new water service at Hie nurses’ home was badly damaged. Water mains burst, the roads cracked, and chimneys were damaged Slips occurred on the Raimi road.