PROGRESS OF WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4150, 9 July 1874, Page 2

PROGRESS OF WELLINGTON.

MESSRS. A. P. STUART AND CO.’S WAREHOUSE. We have repeatedly had occasion of late to notice the completion or the progress of new stores, or the extension of premises, for the merchants of the City, and we have done so with pleasure, as works of this kind indicate in the most satisfactory manner the growth of the commerce and trade of Wellington. This evening the completion of the latest of these works will be celebrated in a most pleasing way, by a ball and supper, to which a very numerous company of guests from town -and country have been invited.

The warehouse we allude to is. that of Messrs. A. P. Stuart and Co., on Custom House Quay. The firm have been in business there for some time, and their progress may be regarded as contemporaneous with and illustrative of that of the City during the last few years. The premises they first erected on their removal from Te Aro were large for the time, but were soon found too small, and an enlargement seawards was madeLately it has been necessary to greatly increase the accommodation afforded by the premises, and a very fine room 60 feet long by 35 feet broad, has been erected over a lower room of the same size, and the opportunity has been taken to, rearrange the premises, so ns to make them at once more commodious and convenient than before, The private room of the firm and the counting-rooms will still' be in front, entering from the street. The visitor, or buyer, will then-pass into a room of considerable dimensions, which will be the furnishing department. Prom thence the lower large room is entered. It also is 60 feet long by 35 feet wide, but a portion of the space at the lower end will be railed off, for an enteringroom on the one side, and a collecting-room, which ■will communicate with the departments on the upper floor by a lift, on the other. Here also will be the new' staircase leading to the rooms on the upper floors. :This Large lower room will be the department for Manchester goods. Down the centre will run a counter six feet wide, on which flannels and goods of , that class will be shown ; on each side will - be a row of stillages, 2 feet square and 1 foot high, on w'hich heavy goods, such as carpets, &c., will be placed. Down the wall, on one side, V under the windows, will be a counter 40 feet long and 2£ feet wide, for the display of prints, and other goods; and on the opposite side of the room a counter, 3 feet wide, for the show of blankettings, &o. Passing from this room, the w T ay leads through a space devoted to the linen department, to the stairs. The large upper room will have a counter nearly all round, 4 feet wide, above which, at a distance of 2 feet, will be a row of shelving IS inches wide, to hold reserve stock, for the relief of the counter on which the usual attractions of a warehousing establishment, not already enumerated or presently to be mentioned, will be, displayed. In the centre will be four transverse counters, each 17 feet by feet, all of polished wood, and one counter of T form, 17 feet by 15 feet. Close by, in a snug corner, will be at once the sample room and the private room of Mr. Haroourt, the junior partner, Mr. Stuart’s room being on the first floor, in front. This new room communicates with the old apartments, the first of which will be given up to millinery, dress stuffs, and general fancy goods, and the second to hosiery, clothing, haberdashery, shirtings, &c. The arrangement, it will thus be seen, is convenient and systematic. To the lift, which communicates with the receiving room, all parcels made up in the upper rooms must go, and by it to the receiving-room. All goods made-up for despatch in the lower-rooms, must.also be taken thither as the only road of despatch. These parcels are at once within: command of the entering-room, from which they pass directly to the packingroom, which communicates both with a right-of-way leading to Custom-house Quay, and with a wharf, at which lighters or boats can be loaded and sent to ships in the harbor. _ It is not intruding on the private affairs of the firm, we hope, if we state that though its business is mainly confined to the Province of Wellington—going no further at present than New Plymouth on the one side, and Napier and Poverty Bay on the other, of the North Island, but extending to Nelson and Canterbury in the Middle Island—as much business is now done in one month as was entered in twelve months only eight years ago. The contractor for the new works was Mr. Lockie, who has performed his part very satisfactorily; but the firm were then’ own architects.

The ball this evening is likely to be a very agi’eeable affair. The guests will, of course, be chiefly friends and customers of the firm. Over two hundred of those who received cards of invitation have intimated their intention to be present. The catering has been entrusted to Mr. Peter Laihg, whose good reputation, we venture to say, will not suffer from any failure on this occasion. The supper will be laid out in the large lower-room, and the floor of the new upper-room has been carefully prepared by experienced hands for the enjoyment of the dancers.