STORE COLLAPSES.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 11

STORE COLLAPSES.

I UNDER 450 TONS. • STOBEMAK'S LUCKY ESCAPE. _ ] KDKX TEHHACE SEXSATIOX. I The fine new store of the Xew Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, at the junction of Porter's Avenue and Eden Terrace, collapsed this forenoon under • the weight of about 1000 cases of dried milk, approximately 4">l) tons- Four j storemen, who were working on the I pile, fortunately escaped injury by J hastily descending some thirty feet to , ! the floor and getting clear when they ! J heard the creaking and groaning of the I timber before the crash. j The store occupied about six months :in building, and was only put into use j some two months ago. The structure j {is on.- , of solid timber with corrugated i iron sides and roofing. It is about 100 • feel lonjr. iind stands at least 40 feet i high, giving one tliu impression from the I outside, of a lofty two-storey place. j During the past fortnight" the store- | mpii have been stacking boxes of dried i iniik. coming from various parts of the j country, and there was a very sub- ; stantial pile this forenoon. The men i were practically up to the roof, and were | I about to "•top"" the stack with a few j I more boxes, raised front the ground by ! means of a caterpillar-like elevator, on I lie endless chain system, when their attention was drawn' to sharp cracking of wood. They immediately came away from the stack, and from a s-ife distance they awaited developments. For about fifteen minutes the noise continued, with increasing volume, and then, without further notice, the wholo 70J0 caeeg heaved over. There was a terrific wrench and half of one side of the building was pulled off and went smashing into a vacant sect ion of ground, followed by thousands of the cases. At the same time the whole of the flooring upon which the pile stood, collapsed, the strong flooring planks being torn and smashed. The whole avalanche did not occupy two seconds, declared the onlookers. For a superficial examination of damage, it appeared as if the flooring had given way first, probably owing to the piles underneath not standing the strain of the heavy load overhead. The floor of the building stands sonic five feet above the ground • and where it has given way the area is now choked up with hundreds of boxes which have been more or less damaged. The work of safeguarding the rest of the place is being undertaken at once, and a squad of men will be kept busy for some time in retrieving the damaged goods and distributing them in places of safely. Heavy financial loss is entailed in the accident. = i