PROPOSED POST AND TELEGRAPH OFFICES.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2029, 5 November 1869, Page 2

PROPOSED POST AND TELEGRAPH OFFICES.

It will be remembered that there appeared in our columns some time ago a description of the new offices for the post, telegraph and stamp departments, which were to have been built at the junction of Rattray and Bond streets. Since then the contract for those buildings was abandoned ; and the Provincial Government, having offered the General Government the use of the large hall in its offices, the latter propose to place the above departments there. Tenders have been called for the proposed alterations, which have been designed by Mr W. H. Clayton, the Colonial architect. We append a short description o; the alterations, '1 he four departments ire to be accommodated in the central hall and the adjoining l ooms, which are at pressnt occupied by the Provincial Treasurer, nib-treasurer, chief surveyor, &c. In disposing of the departments, the present arrangements have been kept in view, so as to make them of some

use. All the fittings are to be made use of, and the screen work, by which the different lepartmcnts are divided 'Will be retained, the only difference being that in the new arrangement it will be raised a couple of feet all round, and that the open space is to be widened some five feet. On the right hand side, on entering, will be the telegraph department, which will occupy the offices at present used by the roads department. The public will pass behind the screen work into an apartment where messages will be received through openings by the clerks, who pass them into the operating room, which will face Liverpool street. This latter department will be 15 feet by 24 feet. By a passage, behind the screen work, the public will gain admittance to the manager’s room, which will overlook both the operating and clerks’ rooms. There is to be a room for the messengers, who will leave the building from Liverpool street. There is a room underground, which is to be used as a battery room. Next in the order of succession comes the post office department, which will occupy by far the greater portion of the central hall. After passing .the telegraph department, there is the office for the sale of stamps and registration of letters. Between this and the partition dividing the telegraph from the post office department, there will be a passage, by which the public will gain entrance to the rooms to be occupied by the chief postmaster and the chief clerk. At the end of the hall, and facing the main entrance, will be the delivery boxes, which will be two in number. It is intended that they will be attended on ordinary occasions by one clerk. Close to these are the receiving boxes, also two in number, They will be in the form of a double drawer, the one over the other, and will run on rollers. When the first box is filled it is conveyed to the sorting table, where it will be emptied and returned to its proper place. The second drawer receives any letters or papers that may have been dropped into the receiving box in the meantime. Next to the sorting table is the stamping table, which will he composed of solid timber, and covered with gutta percha and leather. The sorting room, which will be immediately behind the delivery windows, and separated from them by a slight partition, will be 44 feet by 30 feet. The room wid be fitted with three sorting tables, each 11 feet long by 30 feet broad, and on the top of two of which there will be 144 pigeon holes. These will be arranged into districts, and are so contrived that wnen tided, tne front board can be let down, and the papers fall into bags at the bottom. The mads will be received from Liverpool street into the receiving room, under that of the chief postmaster, and sent up by a lift into the receivving room. On this side ot the building there will be the letter carriers’ room ; and provision is to he made for a resident messenger. On the left hand side, and close to the receiving boxes, will be the room for private boxes, which will be approached by a passage. The boxes will be 242 in number, 220 of the or-1 inary size, and 22 large ones, which are intended for the use of merchants who receive extensive and bulky correspondence. Next to the piivate letter boxes will be the post office savings bank and money order departments. These will be attended to by one clerk. The public enter by a door through the screen-work, but only 'me person at a time can make a deposit; and those waiting at the other side of the counter will not be able to see what is being done. The deeds and stamps department will occupy the remaining portion of the central hall, and the whole of the rooms looking on to the terrace in Water street. Immediately to the left on enteiing the central hall, there will be an apartment where the public tan deposit their deeds. In the same place duty stamps will be sold. One of the rooms facing the terrace, will be occupied by the registrar of deeds, and the next room by the deputy registrar. The public will get access to the last mentioned officer’s department and to the searching 2 ooras, which will be two in number, by a passage ; and by means of windows in the partition that officer will be enabled to see all that takes place in the searching rooms. The two rooms next to the searching rooms will be occupied by the copying clerks, and accommodation is to be provided for eight clerks. The books of the department will be deposited in an underground room by means of a lift; and there is to be a fire-proof-room under that of the registrar. The whole of the alterations are to be completed by the Ist of February.