PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 134, 15 September 1910, Page 2

PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY.

MR. NEWTON KING'S ENTERPRISE, HIS RELIANCE ON TAKA.XAiJ.

. Mr. Newton King is now in full occupation or his new warehouse and offices, ceiurully and most conveniently situated

in Currie street extension,;just opposite the ra.uvay goods shed. The site could scarcely be improved upon, for the northern frontage is on the railway yard itself, and has a loading dock there, a railway siding has been extended from the old stores right inside the new building, and it is close to the new

i street along which all the heavy coastal i waggon traffic will presently be directed. 1 lie warehouse itself has been designed on the most modern lines. The front elevation to Currie street follows the Italian style of architecture, and large plate glass windows and swing doors relieve it. Yesterday a News reporter accompanied Mr. King, Mr. S. W. Shaw ' and Mr. Jas Sanderson (the architect) over the building. The place is fitted with all sorts of labor-saving appliances, including the most approved electric lifts and hoists from cellar to top storey. It is excellently lighted, the various stores and departments are lofty and ■ roomy, and the whole place is most substantial in fact and in general appear- ! ance. When the building" was first designed, people wondered what on earth i Mr. King was going to put in it, how he , was going to fill it. The question is be-1 , ing solved daily, as largo shipments of I English, American and colonial manufac- | tures and seeds are raised from the ; trucks by means of the electric hoists I and distributed on the various floors, or stored in the fine cellars. The cellarage is quite a feature. The concrete j foundations of the building were sunk j twelve feet below the street level, and the excavated ground gives a cellarage accommodation covering some 6300 square feet, interrupted here and there by the massive concrete 'columns which bear the weight of the upper structure. The cellar is used for the heavier merchandise, such as nails, wire, salt, etc. Opening out from it is an absolutely firej proof compartment, at present stocked with oils, but' intended for use eventually as a bond. The arched ceiling of | this is composed of about three feet of concrete and asphalt. Returning by | way pf the main lift —geared to raise a dead weight of 2000 lb. at the rate of 00 feet per minute —to the ground floor, there come into view the machinery showroom and the business offices, occupied bv Mr. Healy and his staff. An- ' other office is provided for the storeman, Mr. W. Healy, overlooking this

floor. Here attention is directed to the railway siding running right into the

building, permitting all classes of goods to be loaded] or unloaded at all times and in all weathers. A smaller electric hoist is installed for the purpose of raising goods from the trucks to the first floor, and for working the cellars from this point. This hoist will be used principally for chaff and grass seed. It is proposed to erect crushing machinery on this floor, so that the firm may turn out its own crushed oats, pigmeal, calfmeal, fowl feed, etc., whilst an Andrews and Beaven seed-cleaning machine, al-

ready on the spot, is to be geared and driven by electric power, the motor for which has been ordered. Farther back! is the manure department, and here men were at work yesterday mixing and bagging the firm's special "Sterling" fertilisers. Skins and hides for the Stratford sale will also be stored here. On the first floor a large floor area is devoted to the seed department, and the remainder may be called th'e grocery department, for here are sufficient groceries to stock a whole row of stores. There is a packing department, and two men are kept busy the day through in making up and despatching orders. There is another floor in the front portion of the building, and this is some 76 feet by 40 feet, and devoted! to biscuits and crockery, and other light goods. The building is lined throughout with "P. and B." waterproof paper lining. It has a frontage of 76 feet to Currie street, and a depth of 167 ft. 6in. Height from the pavement to the top of the parapet is 46 feet, and there is a total floor area of over 13,000 square feet. The . architects, were 'Messrs. Sanderson and Griffiths, and the work was carried out under Mr. Sanderson's supervision. The roof of Caiman's asbestos slates was the work of Messrs. Mainland and Barr, jof Wellington. Messrs. Bellringer Bros, i executed the painting, and Messrs. Smart j Bros, the plumbing. The electrical appliances were installed by Messrs. Turnbull and Jones, under the direction of Mr. Max Bollinger, formerly of New Plymouth. Messrs. R. Coleman and Son were the contractors for the erection of the building,.