THE POST-OFFICE HOTEL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4433, 4 June 1875, Page 3

THE POST-OFFICE HOTEL.

During the past few months this well-known hotel has undergone a thorough renovation. A dozen new rooms have been added, and those previously existing so altered and improved as to be rendered equal to new. The ground floor is now almost entirely devoted to the refreshment business. The bar has been greatly enlarged, and shaped into a semicircle, counters being so ingeniously arranged that residents in the house or casual callers may, if they chose, have their wants supplied quite apart from the general public. Tasteful ornamentation has been indulged in, and a prominent feature is a handsome fountain in the centre of the aps rtment —said to bO amodel of one of Home’s classic adornments. But whatever it may be a model of, the thing itself is chaste and beautiful in its design, and at evening, as its innumerable quivering jets sparkle and shimmer in the garish gas-light, the tout ensemble is brilliant enough to make one imagine he had dropped into a miniature Arabian night’s scene. Behind the bar comes a well appointed sitting-room; and yet further back is a billiard-room, in which there are a couple of good tables, furnished with an abundant supply of balls, cues and all the necessary implements of the game, and a private bar at the side. The general dining-room, which is situate on the second floor, is spacious, lofty, and well lighted by windows commanding a street view, and has a most useful appendage in the shape of a small private room at one end. To the rear of the dining-room are sittingrooms, commercial-rooms, and sample-rooms, with all facilities for the transaction of business. The sleeping accommodation is admirable. - On cither side of a long coiridoi in the upper story is situate a tier of snug light and airy double and single bedrooms, fitted with every convenience, and in addition to these there are others in various parts of the building, making in all some twenty rooms. Throughout, the house is well and elegantly furnished, and presents an aspect of comfort equal to that to be found in the first hotels in Melbourne or Sydney. Mr. Urwiu must be congratulated on the improvements ho has effected, and certainly deserves every support. Messrs. Hansom and Edwards were the contractors for the work of altering and building.