MESSES MATSON COX AND CO.’S NEW PREMISES AT ASHBURTON.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2075, 18 October 1880, Page 3

MESSES MATSON COX AND CO.’S NEW PREMISES AT ASHBURTON.

The new premises recently built by Messrs Matson, Cox and Co. at Ashburton were opened on Friday. The building is 134 ft long by 80ft wide, covering almost entirely a quarter of acre of ground. It is built of wood on a concrete foundation, and, with the exception of the end facing the street, it is covered all over with corrugated iron. The roof is circular, and it is supported on massive wooden pillars, the whole building being strongly braced with iron. There is a large fan light in each end and two large skylights in each side of the roof. A splendid concrete floor has been laid down in it, with the exception of a space left in the centre, where it is intended to lay down rails, so that trucks can be brought into it from the railway, which runs close by. At either side of the main entrance are offices, and inside the front office on'the right-hand side is a good sized room, which is intended to be used sometimes as a saleroom. It is certainly by far the largest building in Ashburton and a credit to the place. It was opened with a luncheon on Friday, about 200 persons sitting down to an excellent repast provided in Mr B. W. Shearman’s best style. Mr O. Percy Oox occupied the chair, and the toasts of the “ Queen and Eoyal Family,” “ The firm of Messrs Matson, Oox and Oo.,” “ The auctioneers of Ashburton,” “ The mercantile and agricultural interests” were duly honored. At the sale which subsequently took place between 500 and 600 persons were present. Mr Walton, of the firm of Messrs Matson, Cox and Co., in his opening speech, said he had watched the growth and progress of Ashburton, and was amazed at the rapidity with which it had improved for the last five years. Eetrogression invariably followed rapid progress, and it was so with Ashburton, but the place was growing more solid now, and there was no doubt that eventually it would become what he had long ago predicted it would become—the “ city of the plains.” Several town sections were offered for sale, but the bidding was slow, and some of them had to be bought in. A large quantity of property was disposed of during the afternoon.