NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDING

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 195, 12 May 1908, Page 8

NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDING

■ : ;: THORNDON TRAMWAY OFFICE')' V. ■ ■ JOMFORTABLE QUARTERS FOR THE ! ' , MEN. s - Thongh it'might .'be convenient and even .ecessary to have a tramways pay-in ohice it tho Thorndon end of.the city, and perhaps , i waiting-room' for • tho large". staff :of ' ooii- : ' ductors and motormeri that man 'the"city , .V' i cars/tie new tramways office that is to'be: erected at ~the junction ' of '- Thorndon " and •• Lambton Quays v (opp'osite the v Governments Railway Station) must raise some .'doubts in the minds of ratepayers as to whether such .v' . an elaborate structure is altogether ' esseh- : ! - tial—whether it .does not' border on'- .tho j extravagant.' . The new-tramways pay-in ofGco is to be an attractive' 1 , looking threestory, brick building, haying a frontago of 82ft.-, by/a depth"of 56ft.,,.the front eleva•V 'tion to be finished in fed pressed brick;".with cement facings. ' .- The ground floor, is to be, occupied by an . elaborate pay-in office, fitted with a fine curved counter, ;which is to be divided by an ornamental brass-wire screen, after ■ the ma imiyucLspmo banking chambers, .There is'aTso provision, for''a ?shop, to be kept by. tho caretaker of ,the building, who ; it is unI derstood must |k«fep some ; sort of a, cook-" Etiop_, as a lift is- to tr^vM' through to 'the tramway employees' mess-room on the tip ' . \ door. ■■' / The first floor is to ibe divided into offices' for the cashier, traffic manager, and time- ■ keeper, while those apartments directly over tho shop will constitute the'Uviiig rooms for the caretaker and employees'. provisioned The largest apartment on the'top floor'is set aside as a meeting room for the men, off v/hich will be a locker-room for the men, and a mess-room for. them, which will no doubt : / i /be duly appreciated by the employees. : v ■ ' The buuding, which is -boing erected by • Mr. "W. H. Bennett, at a ;bf. about£6ooo, is to/be completed i',in .about' five •: ' '. months'/time. ;' /'" " \ '1 With the - prevailing wages, . the free forms, overcoats/and. caps, and the .comfortable club-rooms that the ratepayers are giving tho men,' the tramway service .-.must: bo set.down as. a highly desirable form of; employment, and ;there is little Wonder that ■ there'.are so many applicants for work on ■ the employment book.