Uva’S New Hotel

Will Be Smaller

/MODIFICATIONS have been J. made in the plans for the new South Seas Hotel in iva, construction of which was )mmenced early this year by Messrs. Morris Hedstrom Ltd., of iji- The original plan provided for a uch taller building than previ isly had been undertaken in Suva.

A few months ago, just when the i. was giving some throught to its )w burden of steadily rising build g costs, the earthquake of Sep mber 14 occurred. Suva had not therto been regarded as in an rthquake belt. This event made ;cessary a drastic revision of the ans, so that precautions against

earthquakes could be embodied in the construction.

The Co. has now decided that the rising costs experienced in the two storeys already constructed, plus the extra cost involved in providing against earthquakes, calls for a sum so much in excess of the amount originally provided that a review is necessary; and a formal announcement on behalf of the board at the end of November said: “We have decided to revise our

plans, with a view to building in more stages than we had originally contemplated; and we have called for altered designs for a two, or at the most a three-storey building, in the first stage. We hope in these designs to provide for foundations capable of carrying the seven or eight storey building originally con

templated.”

It is not now expected that the building will go beyond two or at most three storeys.