NAPIER REBUILDS

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 171, 15 April 1932, Page 9

NAPIER REBUILDS

£348,375 Has Been Spent' WORK SINCE QUAKE By Telegraph—Press Association. Napier, April 14. Returns prepared by the Napier Municipal Reconstruction Department show that building work valued at £348,375,has been carried out since the earthquake. Permanent work on business and public buildings has accounted for the greater part of this total, and the erection of many fine blocks on the devastated area has been responsible .for bringing about a transformation from the scene of desolation that existed a year ago. An analysis of the figures shows £208,880 spent on new permanent buildings, £75,634 on alterations to business blocks, and £27,420 on the erection of new houses and in alterations to dwellings. Temporary buildings erected before permanent reconstruction began in earnest accounted for £36,441. The grand total of £348,375 shown by the permits is supplemented by £125,478 provided from the subscribed relief funds for repairs to houses, for which no permits were necessary. A further £9362 was spent immediately after the earthquake by the Public Works Department in repairing chimneys. In addition, the department has carried out. the reinstatement ■ of the Chief Post Office, costing £30,000, for which no permit was necessary. The actual value of the building work carried out is therefore £513,215.

A relinble authority has estimated that the coming month will see the commencement of further work valued at £lOO,OOO, including the. new Masonic Hotel, costing £40,000, and the new Plaza Theatre, costing approximately £20,000.

In spite of these figures, Napier has a pressing unemployed problem, and there is no room fpr outside artisans.