PARLIAMENT HOUSE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 147, 18 December 1907, Page 2

PARLIAMENT HOUSE.

« / A NEW IDEA. - REBUILDING BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION. (By Telegraph.) (From Our special Reporter.) ! TAIHAPE, This Day. i Tho Premier has put forward a new ! idea about the reconstruction of Parlia- 1 mont Buildings. Naturally Taihape j knows nothing about sites ; does not care whether Parliament Buildings located in the ,IV.vn Hall or the old Council Chambers in Brandon-street. But for all that the Piemier unloaded a scheme on Taihape about the rebuilding of Parliament Buildings, and it was briefly this : Every man, -.voman, and, if possible, every child, in the Dominion, should subscribe not more than a sovereign for the purpose at putting up a, new and improved Parliament Buildings, so as to render the Government independent of the foreign lender. The audience waxed almost enthusiastic. No money passed. v MR. MASSEY'S VIEWS. v THE NEED FOR INSURANCE. [El TKIiEGKAr-H. — MtESS ASSOCIATION.] AUCKLAND,. 17th December. In his speech at Pukekohe to-night the Leader ot the Opposition, Mr. W. F. Massey, M.P., said that serious as tho Tiro disaster in Wellington was, it was a matter for congratulation that the Library had been saved. It was impossible to say what would be the actual amount of the loss, but he was quite certain that no less than £150,000 would bo required to rebuild and rent the buildings for use. The fire had disclosed a most serious defect in the financial policy of the Dominion. In the first place, there was no insurance on our public buildings. If it was right to insure privato property it vas also right to insure State property. There was another and an even more important point, and that was there was no provision for depreciation in connection with tho public buildings. A building was eroded and paid for out of the Public Works Fund. In the course of time it became dilapidated and unsuitable for the purpose for which it was intended. It was then burned or pulled down, and tho' cost of replacing it again became a charge upon the x'ublic Works Fund. ( The money sav«d by not having a depreciation fund might help to swell the annual surplus, but it' was not sound finance. (Hear, hear.) If the firn did nothing else than to call public attention to the need for insurance and depreciation furds in connection with our public buildings it would not be an unmixed evil. Ho had noticed with surprise that the Prime Minister had suggested that the ate of Parliament House might be moved to that on which Government House at Wellington now stood. They had got to remember that if they atlumpled anything of the sort, they would have to find another site for the Governor's residence, and to buy sufficient hind in Wellington for that purpo&o would be no light undertaking, Thun again, if the silo of Parliament House was changed, it would mean that the value of the present Library wing, which only seven or eight years ago cost £50,000* or £35.000, ' would be entirely lost. A contract Ima also been let lor another portion of the rebui'ding Rcl>cme at a cost of somo £50,000, and altogether they could not do better than stick to tli3 present site. They had to make provision for the futiuv, but they could do this iri.o and quite ah <.ui<.f. •>.<■(,■> i!y, o;i tho present cita as ou any other \du that h" know of.