Burned-Out Store Salvage Operations

Northern Advocate, 5 March 1947, Page 7

Burned-Out Store Salvage Operations

i Salvage operations amid the ruins jof Bargain Stores Ltd.’s gutted prej mises yesterday continued from early • morning until late at night. During the ordinary working hours, the staff, garbed in old clothes, overalls and aprons, worked hard among the rubbish sorting out relatively undamaged goods. In the afternoon when most useable goods had been recovered from the wreckage, school children came in droves to delve into the blackened mass, extricating a variety of charred oddments which they thought might be useful at home. The word soon spread around and after tea, the adults moved in. Equipped with sugar bags and various containers they tackled the burned out ground floor which was littered with great heaps of burned rubbish. HAUL NOT RICH Dozens of them sorted through the I mess seeking what might have been overlooked by the staff and by the children. Their haul was not a rich one but some bags became bulky. Today a bulldozer worked among the ruins, shoving great piles of debris on to lorries in Rust Avenue. In the front of the premises, a considerable clearance had been made :md a good space had been swept clean. As things began to sort themselves out little stories of good and bad luck have been told. For instance the fortnightly quota of tobacco and cigarettes, worth about Cl5O, arrived a day ahead of time, for the first time on record. It could not be handled on Friday ind went up with the flames. Under the 1 normal routine it would not have oeen delivered until Monday. On the other hand, although the lift :age and cables were extensively damaged the lift machinery, irreplaceable it such times 'as these, was relatively indamaded. RECORDS INTACT When the strong room was entered j yesterday afternoon, after a hole had been made through one wall to permit entry, the firm’s records were found intact. A small amount of water had seeped in but damage was negligible. The total amount of insurance covers on the building and all its contents was not available today. It was hoped that the assessors will have completed their task by the end of the week but no definite information on this point was obtainable. Arrangements have been made for the construction of a permanent roof over the top floor of the building. Some of the timber arrived on the scene today and the construction will probably commence tomorrow.

Next week it is likely that several departments will be functioning in the front of the building.