THE NEW GENERAL POST OFFICE.

Southland Times, Issue 709, 14 August 1867, Page 3

THE NEW GENERAL POST OF FICE.

« (From (be " Weekly Age " (Melbourne,) After a period bat a few days sborfc of nine years, duiiug which it has been in course of erection, that colossal structure, the new General Post Office, has arrived at completion, and been appropriated to the purpose for which it was designed The public were privileged on Saturday to inspect the interior, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. a dense throng passed through the building. So frequently has it been described, aud so familiar have the public become with its external appearance, that to enter into architectural details would be superfluous. The centre of the large hall is to be devoted to the inland despatch department, aud the most ample accommodation is provided for the sorters. The sides of the hall are occupied by the receiving, delivery, registration, sale of stamps, inquiry aud private letter offices, and Puste re^tante The external arcade affords ready access to the different offices in the Elizabeth and Bourke streets section of the building. Through a gate under the small dome in Bourkestieet is the private entrance for letter carriers and clerks, and iuward mails. On the first floor access is obtained by corridors, which afford a sight of the hall below, to the corresponding branch on the right or east side and to the accountant's branch on the west side. The second floor or attic is occupied by the store and stamp departments. Especial attention has beea bestowed on the latter department, and most ample accommodation provided for the printing, gummiug, and drying of the stamps. A strong room with double iron doors is provided as a repository for the water-lined paper. The fittings are all of South Waies cedar of a massive character, and calculated to cost somethiug like £G,OOO, and harmonise well with the general appearance of the interior. The building h heated in cold weather by hot water pipes, supplied by Messrs Bobberty aud Co., and the floors will be covered with cocoa-nut matting. The lighti ug arrangements are by Dempster and Co., who in their patent have attained a state of perfection rarely equalled in lighting so large a space. Perhaps the most faulty of the internal conveniences in the whole building are the sanitary provisions, in which a considerable oversight has been shown. The necessity of baths for the mail guards and delivery men must be apparent to every one. A guard who travels all night by coach in rain, heat, or dust, requires special accommodation after returning from his long journey. The lavatories are also very circumscribed, but as there must be in all new buildings scores of things that require after-consideration, no doubt these necessary conveniences will be added. The mail flag signals from the tower have already become a thing of tne present, but the addition about to be made thereto in the shape of a monster signal lamp is deserving of note. The lamp has been manufactured by Messrs He inkle and Patterson, of Little Collins-street, and is made so as to fit round the flagstaff on which it will be hoisted at nightfall. It will be fitted with twelve gas jets, with silver reflectors, which will enable it to be seen from every point of the compass. Slides corresponding -in color to the signal flags fit in the lamp, and will indicate the place from whence the mail arrives. The large clock shown at the Intercolonial exhibition has been purchased, and will be placed at the north end of Elizabetb-sti-eet arcade, in juxtaposition with the postal hoses. Policemen were stationed at the entrance of the building on Saturday, in order to ascertain the number of visitors, and at four o'clock it was found to be little short of 30,000 persons. Tho arrangements were admirable, and, except on the stah'case, where there was some crowding, no incouvenience was experienced, for in the ouilding there was ample room to promenade and examine minutely the internal arraugeineuls. The general contractor for the work has been Mr Samuel Amess. The entire cost will fall little short of £140,000. On Saturday, after the public had retired, a few friends met ~Mr Amess to congratulate him upon the completion of the work. It deserves special mention that, great as the undertaking has been, and dangerous as the ' erection of such edifices generally is, not the smallest accident has occurred.