THE NEW POST AND TELEGRAPH OFFICES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5662, 23 May 1879, Page 4

THE NEW POST AND TELEGRAPH OFFICES.

Mr. P. P. M. Burrowes, acting Colonial Architect, haa just completed the drawings and plans of the new Post and Telegraph Offices to be erected in Wellington, and a few particulars as to the character of the buildings the Government propose to erect may not be uninteresting. The whole of the block of land facing Grey-street, Custom Home-quay, and Panama-street, now occupied by the Post Office, Custom House, and Telegraph Office, will be required, and it has been determined to erect thereon one building capable of accommodating not only the postal and telegraph business of 1 the city, but also the department, from the Minister downwards, which at present :has its home in the Government offices on Thorndon-quay. The building will therefore be a very large one, being three stories high, and having a frontage on Custom House-quay of 172 ft., on Greystreet of 74ft., and on Panama-street of •71ft. The material used in construction will be brick, the front being stuccoed, concrete foundations, and slate roof. The front elevation and main entrance to the building will of course be to Custom Housequay, and it is pleasing to note that a very handsome design has been prepared by the architect if only for the reason that this will be the first building to catch the eye of the newly arrived visitor. The style is of a somewhat composite character, but the light and pleasing modern Italian predominates. The windows vary in mode of construction, according to flats, as in the case of the Government offices, and the intervening ornamentations are different in character, according to position. A parapet, supported by a multitude of small pillars, surmounts the front elevation, and out of the parapet, just above the main entrance, rises up a fine tower to a height of 110 ft. This is of handsome construction, and at the same time tolerably substantial, being 17ft. square. In it is to be placed a clock a town clock in the broadest acceptation of the term fourdialled, each dial 9ft. in diameter, placed at such an elevation that the figures may be seen at day or night (for it is to be illuminated at night) for a distance of two miles, and furnished with a bell of sufficient nower to be heard at a distance of five miles. Entering the building from Custom House-quay, the door- opens into a spacious vestibule 19ft. by 18ft. This is in the centre of the front part of the building, and is common to the Post and Telegraph Offices. It forms the divisional point between the two. The Post Office is to the left, that is, to Grey-street ; the Telegraph Office to the right, or towards Panama-street. In dealing with the Post Office first, we find a door from the vestibule leads into the public room —an apartment 22ft. by 17ft, fitted with a long counter, and to be devoted solely to the accommodation of anxious inquirers and purchasers of stamps. Beyond this, and connected with it by a door, is another public room 17ft. by 17ft., in which the money order business will be transacted. The next room is that of the chief postmaster. This will be situate at the corner of Grey-street and Custom House-quay, and may be reached by the Grey-street entrance. Then comes a large room for the clerks’ office. The receiving boxes will be pretty well where they are now, and near them will be a passage as now in which will be placed the private boxes, two hundred and sixty-eight in number, with provision for making them five hundred in case of necessity. At the rear is the yard and right-of-way communicating with Grey-street. The mail room is a fine apartment, J-ft-x 40ft., and provision has been made so that the offices devoted to money order business may be taken into it in the event of increased business rendering increased accommodation necessary. The mail room being in the centre of the building, it has been somewhat difficult to get light, but Mr. Burrowes haa had recourse to lighting from the roof by means of a lantern light and well-hole. There are letter carriers’ rooaps, safe, and a variety of out offices, also a patent lift running from the cellarage to' the roof. The first floor is reached by a flight of stone steps rising out of the vestibule. The offices on this flat to the left of the centre of the building are to be devoted to the purposes of the General Post Office Department. There is a clerks’ room, 38ft. by 17ft.; chief clerk’s room, 14ft by 17ft. : secretary’s room, 17ft. by 28ft; Minister’s room, 18ft by 13ft ; together with inspector’s dead letter office, &c. The

flat above, so far as the postal division is concerned, is arranged very similarly to the manner in which the first floor is. '1 lie Sivinrs Bank has its quarters here, and there are several storerooms, which might be adopted as offices for the money older branch should it become necessary to remove it off the ground floor. Coming to the telegraph side of the building, the first apartment to be referred to is the public office on the ground floor. This is 26it. long and 17ft. deep, the clerks’ . counter running a length of sixteen feet. By the way, here as in the post office everything has to be done over the counter. At the side of the counter, it may be mentioned, there is to bo a patent lift," by means of which messages to be wired will be sent to the operators' room above, and these to be delivered received from the operators. Next there is a counter-clerk’s room thirtytwo feet by ten. Then comes the general manager’s office, large rooms fur clerks, laboratory, mechanicians’ room, store room, &c. There is also a separate eutrauc-i tr.un Panama-street, so that the telegraph staff may have ingress and egress thus when the main entrance has been closed, a very necessiry provision, seeing that telegraph officials have their entrances and exits long after the regulation hour of half-past four. The instrument room occupies a large space on the first floor, 71ft. by 29it., and the rest of the flat is devoted to offices for the secretary, chief clerk, storekeeper, inspector, and so on. The feature of the second floor is the cadets’ gallery, in which lads will be taught the work of the Department. The Department is rather too spacious for the purpose, but it is to be built large so that in the event of a press of work it may be turned into an operating room, the cadets being transferred to some other part of the building. There is the clearing house and several other offices on this flat. It will thus be seen that a very fino building is contemplated, and judging from tbe plans, a more detailed description of winch it is impossible to give within reasonable space, wo should say the arrangements will be exceedingly convenient. Tenders for the performance of the work are to be called for in the course of a fortnight, aud we hope that before long the work of building will be commenced. One thing is very certain, the present offices cannot much longer be put up with, and tile sooner new ones take their place the better. The erection of new buildings has not been taken iu hand a day too soon.