NEW ZEALAND EXHIBITION, 1865.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 166, 18 March 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND EXHIBITION, 1865.

THE B U 1 L D I N G. [From the Otago Daily Times, February 10.] Messrs. Cornwell and Horseman, the contractoes for the Exhibition Building, are marking good progress with their work. They commenced actual building operations about three weeks ago; and already 1400 loads of blue stone have been used aud the basement is very nearly completed. At first, there were some fears as regarded the foundation ; the foundation of concrete was not considered improbable. But when a not very deep stratum of peaty bog had been removed, a shale or shingle bottom was found, than which nothing could ollbrd a more satisfactory foundation for so substantial a structure as is to be raised. There is abundance of clay within the reserve, which is as good for brick makingjjas any yet used in the province. Half a million of bricks will be needed and already 200,000 of them have been moulded, and the larger portion of them have been kilned. At each corner of tue building a well has been sunk, and a plentiful supply of water has been obtained from between the clay and the gravel, which is useful for other purposes than mortarmaking. A workshop 100 ft long is being run up for the use of carpenters and joiners, of whom a considerable number will be required for a short time ; so that it will be much more economical and expeditious to have them together on the ground, than to have the work disposed over different yards: there being as yet no single yard in the city sufficiently extensive to meet the requirements of the contract. The basement will be finished by the 17th inst., when the corner-stone is to be laid; and there will then be a mass of stonework 14ft. high towards Great King street, where the land is lowest, and averaging from 3ft to 4ft thick. The stone which is to be laid, to receive in the prepared cavity the different documents and coins which will be deposited during the coming ceremony, will, when dressed, bo 3ft. 9in long, 3ft broad, and 2ft deep, being the largest mass yet dressed in the Province. The cornerstone proper will, of course, bo of less dimensions, but still it will bo a fine block. Both are of bluestone, and have been got from a quarry in the Town Belt, at a point nearly due west of the budding, and w ich the contractors have been permitted to open. The bluestone for the basement has been obtained-from a quarry in Maclag-gan-street. We have already stated that the building will be 140 ft. long and 108 ft. wide ; and we now append a few particulars as to the intended direction. The style will be Italian, and while appropriate enough for the purpose to which the buildis specially to be applied, it will be particularly appropriate for the ultimata purpose—that of a general market. Except in the basement, brick will be the material used, and the whole exterior will be stuccoed. The ground or lower storey will be bodily rusticated ; there being on each side five flat-arched windows flanking a central doorway. A decorated string-course and cornice will mark the division between the storeys, the upper one having two rows of windows : one series being three lights, divided by pilasters, aud having circular heads, while the other will be nearly square and not at all relieved. Should it be found necessary to block up the former series during the continuance of the exhibition —as will no doubt be the case, in order to obtain a suffici-

ency of wall apace—-there Will still be abundance of light in the gallery, from the small square windows and the central lantern. A cornice and balustrade will complete the elevation, which will have a height of 32ft,, except that between the central pilasters on each side, a pediment will be introduced. We have spoken of a central entrance in each front of the building—towards Great Kingstreet and Cumberland-street. It must bo addhd that this entrance will in each case, be through a tower which will have a square of 26ft and will rise to a height of 120 ft from the present ground level. In the gallery storey the tower will have a window of three lights, each long and semi-curcle headed, the whole flanked by pilasters and surmounted by a pediment. Then will come the cornice, which will be heavier and more encircled than along the general line of the building; and above it, in each face of the tower will be a window with a balustraded balcony. There will be still a fourth height, nearly plain, covered by a sharply-pitched roof, and surmounted by a flag-staff. At each angle of the building there will be a small turret or minature campanile finished after the style of the towers, but less elaborately. The ends of the building—fronting Frederick street and Hanover-streefc—will have each a central doorway ; and the details of the work will correspond with those in the main elevations.

So much for the interior, the effect of which promises to be exceedingly pleasant—not at all fantastic, but appropriate and solid. In the interior there will be a gallery 16ft. high, and 26ft wide, running round the building ; and the roof will be slightly coved and have in its centre a high lantern-light, 60ft. long. The question of decoration remains yet to be discussed by the Royal Commissioners, or those whom they may appoint. We understand that the building is to be roofed in and ready for the plasterers by the Ist of May ;so that. Messrs. Cornwell and Horseman will have a busy time of it to keep within their contract limits.

The streets in the neighbourhood of the building are undergoing a rapid and most satisfactory transformation. Messrs. Lonnie, Geggie, & Co., will in a few days complete their contract for the formation of Great King-street south, from Stuartstreet to Frederiek-street that portion of the street from a succession of hillocks and of clay, with hollows of bog and stream, has become a fine level drive, fully formed, although not metalled to so great a width as might bo desirable. But more metal may be found if the Government, when they see how well the £35,000 loan has been expended in different parts of the city, can only be induced to advance more money for the permanent completion of those streets which have now necessarily to be left somewhat incomplete. Mr. Mackenzie is at work on Great King-street north; and when he has done there will be a nearly level and perfectly straight road not much less than two miles long. Hanover-street, St. An-drew-street, Frederick-street, and Cumberlandstreet, will speedily be commenced ; and when they have been completed the site of the Exhibition Building will be approachable in all directions.