Shops Demolished.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 697, 25 February 1933, Page 8

Shops Demolished.

Temporary Premises at Napier. (Special to the *' Star.”) NAPIER, February 25. DEMOLITION of the block of temporary shops which became the business area of Napier after the earthquake disaster on February 3, 1931, has at last been begun in earnest. Workmen are tearing roofs and walls away and it should be only a short time before Clive and Memorial Squares, the public gardens on which the blocks were built, are restored. With the exception of eight shops erected by the Napier Commissioners, two blocks containing over sixty sjhopping premises were built by the Government at a cost of £IO,OOO. Timber and galvanised iron were the materials used and it was anticipated that their ultimate sale after demolition would contribute towards defraying the cost, the bulk of which was to be met by rentals charged for shops at the rate of approximately a halfpenny per square foot, over a period of two years. A loss of £2381, apart from interest on the original outlay, is now anticipated by the Government on the erection of the blocks. A request was recently made for the use of the materials to be used in the reconstruction of the Old People’s Home at Parke Island, near Napier, but the request was refused by the Prime Minister on the grounds that the Government intended to dispose of the material to the best advantage in an endeavour to reduce as far as possible the deficit which it had to withstand on the enterprise.