STEAMER TAKAPUNA

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 122, 27 May 1925, Page 6

STEAMER TAKAPUNA

AUCTION SALE OF FITTINGS.

The days ol the Union Company's old steamer Takapuna are numbered. The vessel was brought in from the stream yesterday morning, and berthed at No. 16, Qtfeen's Wharf. . The shipbreakers have been working on her for the past four or five months, and the once trim and smart vessel is now but a shell. Her engines were blown out with gelignite, and parts of them lie in a twisted heap at the bottom of the ship. This morning the auctioneer's red flag fluttered from the rigging. All fittings were being sold, and the sale attracted a large number o£ prospective ■purchasers. Doors, cupboards, mirrors, cushions, barrels, wire mattresses, basins, etc., came under the hammer, and bidding was keen. The Takapuna has a, good record of service. She was built in 18S3 by the Barrow Shipbuilding Company, Ltd., of Barrow. Her principal dimensions are_: Length 220 ft, breadth 32ft, depth 17.5 ft, and she was of a gross tonnage of 1036. The vessel was taken over from the Union Company last year by Messrs. Todd and Borlace, of Bunedin, whoare carrying out the breaking-up operations. It is understood that when everything- of value has been removed the ship will be sunk.

A correspondent who was present during the sale has written to "The Post" protesting against the sale of such things as the cushions taken out of the Takapuna. They are, he declared, in a very bad state through decay and the ravages of moths, and may he regarded as dangerous to health. -He urges that old fittinis,of this kind should come under tho supervision of tho Health authorities before they are permitted to be distributed among the community.