FURNITURE FOR STATE OFFICES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 200, 21 May 1936, Page 10

FURNITURE FOR STATE OFFICES

Manufacture in Railway Workshops The manufacture in railway workshops of office furniture and other equipment required by Government departments was referred to by Mr. S. G. Holland (Opposition, Christchurch North) in a question be asked the Minister of Railways, Hon. D. G. Sullivan, in the House of Representatives yesterday. He pointed out that in some cases this equipment was made from designs of private firms without, giving them opportunities of tendering and securing contracts. The Minister replied: "It is correct that certain equipment required by Government departments will in future be manufactured in the railway workshops. As a. matter of fact, a substantial portion of this work has been carried out. in the railway workshops for some years past. When the present workshops were brought into use it was the expressed intention of the Government which authorised their construction that they should be utilised to carry out any work required by other departments which the workshops were capable of performing. Indeed, part of the justification for the outlay of the heavy capital expenditure involved lay i'n this intention. So far as the design of steel furniture is concerned. the manufacture ol such furniture has been developed in the railway ■workshops over a period of years, and the methods and design follow the ordinary trade practices regarding which no firm can claim any design rights.’’