QUARTERS MOVED

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 69, 15 December 1931, Page 10

QUARTERS MOVED

Transport Department Shifts to Quay PUBLIC WORKS BRANCH In future the Transport Department will be accommodated in a suite of rooms in the Government Buildings, Lambton Quay, to Which it will move this morning from its quarters in the official residence for Prime Ministers in Tinakori Road. The department will be housed in that part of the buildings used by the Public Works Department. There will be no increase in the floor space taken up by the latter department, as with a slight readjustment of the existing office appointments room has been provided for the Transport Department staff. During the recent session of Parliament the Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, indicated on more than one occasion that it was intended to make the Transport Department a part of the-Public Works Department in much the same way as the hydroelectric branch is at present. The transfer of the department is understood to be one of the steps In the direction of giving effect to that proposal. Engineering and highway construction have an important place in the transport problem, and in the Public Works Department there are already the experts who can give advice on these questions. Although the change is not expected to involve a complete merger, there will he the closest co-operation between the two departments. Economy is believed to be one of the major considerations behind the. proposal. Functions Curtailed. When the estimates of the Transport Department were before the; House of Representatives, Mr. Coates said it was proposed to utilise the services of officers in the Public Works Department to carry out the necessary transport work. The functions of that department, he said, were being rapidly curtailed, on account of the shortage of funds.*' Some of the officers of the department, and also its organisation, would be available for the administration of transport business. Since April 1, 1929, the Transport Department has been accommodated In a suite of rooms on the ground floor at "Ariki Toa,” 260 Tinakori Road. The Minister of Lands, Hon. E. A. Ransom, and the Minister of Education, Hon. R. Masters, M.L.C., at. present occupy quarters on the first floor of the residence, but nothing definite has yet been decided as to whether any of the Ministers at present without Ministerial residences will take up residence In that part of the building vacated by the Transport Department.