OVERCROWDED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 141, 16 June 1936, Page 15

OVERCROWDED.

& STAFF IN TOWN HALL. ACCOMMODATION QUESTION. " DISGRACE TO AUCKLAND." The inadequacy of the accommodation for the City Council staff at the Town Hall and of the provision for departmental work was trenchantly commented upon by the Mayor, Mr. Ernest Davis, in presenting his financial report to the Auckland City Council last evening. "It is not my intention to mark my departure from the Mayoral chair with the statement that the conditions under which the staff at the Town Hall work arc a disgrace to the city," said the Mayor. They are a disgrace to the city, and they would not lie tolerated by any business concern. They will not be tolerated by me as Mayor, and before I vacate office I will, with the co-opera-tion of the council and the ratepayers, have these conditions remedied. "One of my first actions after assuming office was an inspection of the various departmental activities, and an investigation of tlie conditions of the office organisation. I was amazed to see the conditions under which many, members of the staff, by necessity, discharged their duties, due largely to lack of adequate accommodation. It was clear to me that any rearrangement in the present quarters could only be in the nature of a palliative. Accordingly, the finance and town planning committees called for a report on the selection of a suitable site, and the preparation of plans for a new administrative block adequate to the accommodation requirements of the council and its staff. Future Policy. "A tentative layout for tile, construction of a new building on tho site of the inter-section of Grey's Avenue, Cook and Fcrgusson Streets, was duly submitted," continued Mr.' Davis, "but in view of the number of other important issues with which the finance committee has been concerned in rccent months, it has not been practicable to give definite consideration to this question. The policy awaiting determination is whether all the offices in the I own Hall shall be vacated and the whole staff transferred to a new administrative block, or only some departments shifted and the space left in the present Town Hall be utilised for extra accommodation for the departments that remain. Until a decision has been reached, application cannot be made to the Local Government Loans Hoard for to raise the loan, and similarly the city engineer will not be able to proceed with his preparation of the preliminary plans, specifications, and estimates. However, having initiated the proposal, I intend to bring it to fruition."