NEW BUILDING COLLAPSES

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2688, 29 January 1924, Page 3

NEW BUILDING COLLAPSES

Auckland, January 27. Ihe New Zealand Co-operative Company’s stores at Eden Terrace collapsed on Saturday morning under the weight of 7,000 eases of dried milk, weighing 450 tons. Four workmen got clear by hastily descending when they heard the groaning and cracking of the timber. The store was only completed two months ago. It was of timber and iron and 100 feet long by 40 feet high. Half one wall and 1000 cases of milk fell into an adjoining section, hundreds of cases being damaged. WALL OF BUILDING COLLAPSES. FOUNDATIONS UNDERMINED BY TRENCH. Christchurch, Last Night. An extraordinary accident occurred shortly after 3 p.m. The west wall of the “Spectator” building in Gloucester St. collapsed with a roar into tlie adjoining empty section. The interior of (lie building was left hare, showing the passage on the ground floor and work room above. One mail had a narrow escape from serious injury, and was knocked down by the flying bricks. The Hon. G. W. Russell was in an upper room when the fall occurred, but the floor did not collapse. The roof is sagging badly and the condition of the building appears to he precainons. The building is the property of the trustees of the estate of H. L. Bowker, and is leased by G. W. Russell, Ltd. The cause of the collapse is thought to he the digging of a 4ft. trench which was 3ft. lower than the wall foundation. The empty seelion is being prepared for a fourstorey building.