LARGER QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 150, 26 June 1937, Page 19

LARGER QUARTERS.

TRANSPORT CONTROL. ACTIVITIES INCREASE. ROAD SAFETY CAMPAIGN. To relieve the congestion caused by the increase in the activities of the transport department in Auckland it has been necessary to obtain more commodious accommodation, and the department has experienced its third move in five years. The offices are now located on the fourth floor of Paykel's Buildings, Anzac Avenue, and in this accommodation the licensing authority has itd. headquarters.

• When the department was inaugurated in 1932 the area controlled from the Auckland office was much smaller than to-day and for a number of months the work was carried on in the office of the Public Works Department. Later, however, a room was obtained on the ground floor of the Government Buildings in Customs Street, adjoining the board room, but within two years the administrative duties of the office were so increased by the raising of the transport department to an independent status separate from the Public Works Department, that a further move was necessary. The position was met by securing; rooms in the Waitemata Chambers, nearby, where the work continued to grow until the latest change was made last week.

It was explained by the district transport officer, Mr. R. H. Nicholls, to-day, that the area administered from Auckland embraced three former transport districts and portions of two others, and that the activities formerly carried out at-Hamilton and Whangarei and partly at Gis borne and Stratford were now concentrated at Auckland. With a southern boundary running from the Mokau to Taupo and across to the East Coast south of Wairoa the territory was slightly larger than the Auckland province.

Besides the extension of the boundaries, there have been developments on the inspectional side. The chief traffic inspector of the Auckland area and the district vehicle inspector are both accommodated in the department's office, and that aspect of the work must necessarily increase in view of the efforts now being made to reduce accidents on the road and to afford greater protection to the public.