TIMARU IMMIGRATION BARRACKS.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 219, 20 February 1875, Page 4

TIMARU IMMIGRATION BARRACKS.

The Herald contains a thebarrack accommodation for immigrants. Our cor. • temporary says —As is well known, for some time past there have been three barracks in use here, the old Timaru school premises for the families, a building on the main road for the single men, and another in North street for the single women. In consequence of the additions which have been made to the barracks formed out of the old school premises, the girls will for the future be accommodated there with the families, the barracks in North street being abolished. The number of barracks will thus be reduced to two, and the supervision of the immigrants will be conducted much more conveniently than when the three existed. We purpose giving a brief description of the families’ and single women’s barracks, in order to show the extent of the additions and alterations which have been carried out there. The section on which the building stands is about half an acre in size. Extending along the northern side is the old schoolhouse, and parallel with it on the southern side is a new building of nearly similar size, the length being 102 feet, the width 21 feet, and the height of studs 12 feet. Between the two buildings is an open space about three-quarters of a chain wide, which forms a yard. The first room which came under our notice in the new building is 60 feet by 20 feet. In this room there are thirteen compartments measuring 8 feet by 8 feet, seven being on one side and six on the other, a passage 4 feet wide extending between each row the full length of the room. This portion of the building is for the families. At the west end of the families’ compartments are four rooms, each 20 feet by 12 feet, the first being the hospital, the second the store, the third the coal and wood store, and the fourth the luggage room. At the outside western end of this building are four large iron tanks, which fill from the roof. The old building, which is to be used entirely for the single women, is divided into three rooms. The one at the eastern end—lo feet by 18 feet—is to be used as a sitting and dining room. The other portion of the main building is divided into two rooms—2lft by 18ft each—fitted up as bedrooms. On the southern side of these bedrooms is the kitchen—l2ft by 18ft—which contains, among other fittings, a large and complete cooking range. At the western end of the old building are two rooms with concrete floors, one being a wash-house fitted up with two coppers, and the other a lavatory. Attached to the main building are two more tanks which fill from the roof; and as a further means of water supply there is a well in the yard fitted with a force pump. The barrack-master’s house, which is attached to the old main building, and which is situated in the yard, is the same building as that used by the schoolmaster in the time of the old school. This building contains four rooms, a sittingroom and bedroom facing the street, and a kitchen and another bedroom with a western aspect, The interior of all the buildings is well finished, and the conveniences are complete. The outhouses are in the portion of the yard which is between the eastern fence and the ends of the two large buildings. The material used generally throughout the buildings is wood. When the buildings are painted, which they will be shortly, they will present a very neat appearance.