DEMOLISHING THE RUINS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14144, 20 August 1909, Page 6

DEMOLISHING THE RUINS.

WORK AT THE STRAND ARCADE

A HAZARDOUS OCCUPATION.

Perched in mid-air, on the top of a narrow wall, a number of men were yesterday engaged in finishing the work of demolition of the Strand Arcade, which the fire began. It was work requiring a cool head and a steady nerve, for the bricks hung tenaoiously 'together, and the precarious foothold made the exercise of any con-

siderable force fraught with the danger of the worker toppling over. Necessarily, progress was slow, but the men aloft on the topmost pinnacle of the blackened ruins worked steadily, and the bricks, which fell on the street one by one, gradually accumulated. The central pinnacle was demolished by this slow process, and then a mass of brick and ironwork, hanging over the centre of the building, was pulled down by ropes. It. was deemed feasible to employ similar means to bring down the northern pediment, and a rope was accordingly fastened round it, and 20 of the contractor's men and brewery employees got the other end of it, at the back of the building on the ground floor. The cars were stopped temporarily, and the crowd warned to a safe distance. "Heave-ho; let her go!" sang out'the foreman, and the rope became taut, the pediment swayed, and seven or eight tons of .masonry crashed on to the first floor, which proved stout enough to hold it. None of the cornice came away with the

pediment, but as it was badly cracked at either side it was decided it could be pulled down. A rope was accordingly fixed round it, and a long pull and a steady pull made the cornice eway, but it did not fall. Onco or twice the attempt was renewed, after the men had rested, and the cars, which had come to a standstill on either side of the building, had been allowed to proceed, but the cornice was too strongly supported by a party' wall, and it was accordingly resolved to remove the wall first. A rope was got round it, and without much resistance it went crashing through what remained of the floors on to the ground, where it made another heap of debris, with which

he earth was strewn. Darkness here in-

terfered with operations, which were suspended till this morning, when the remaining cornices, the cross-walls and girders, and such other portions of the building as the city engineer may direct, will be pulled down. The men who were admitted to the hospital suffering from injuries sustained during the fire or while conducting salvage operations are all progressing favourably.

Mr. R. E. Blakey, indent agent, who had his office in the Strand Arcade, was

in Christclmrch at the time of the fire. Ho returned to Auckland yesterday. He states that his loss is well over the total of his insurances, which amount to £500, equally divided between the North British and Royal Exchanges offices. Mr. Blakey took over his business less than three months ago.

To save the public inconvenience, owing to the destruction of the Strand Arcade Post Office, the Department has secured suitable accommodation at the corner of Wellesley-street West and Elliott-street. The building is being refitted, and the officials expect to have the office open for business before the end of the present week. The new office is to be known as Wellesley-street, instead of Strand Arcade.