AN ARDUOUS TASK

Evening Star, Issue 22681, 22 June 1937, Page 8

AN ARDUOUS TASK

TRANSFER GF CUSTOMS DEPARTMENT NEW HOME IN POST OFFICE BUILDING Yet another Government department has been' established in its new home within the _ walls of the mighty Post Office building. Yesterday a start was made to transfer the Customs Department from Edinburgh House to more commodious and much brighter surroundings on the fourth floor of the building, where eight rooms on the southern side are being occupieji. The transfer of such an organisation with hundreds of thousands .of docu- ( ments in its possession is an arduous’ task, and yet it is expected that everything will be housed in the new quarters ready for business to-morrow morning. Last year the department destroyed two years’ records over six years old, and these papers and books weighed nearly three tons. The fact that the department was faced with the removal of six years’ accumulation gives some idea of the magnitude of the task involved in transfer. Certain record books still in use to-day date back to 1871, one such book being the registration of shipping documents. Altogether, about 100 baskets of records, documents, and papers are involved in the shift.

Fortunately for the staff, shipping is somewhat slack at the present time, and sales tax payments will not be made until about Monday next. Clerical duties are thus less onerous than usual, so that the transfer is being made with the minimum of disorganisation of the everyday routine. The premises being vacated were occupied by the department for the past 17 years, and as the lease for them expires at the end of the month, the department was obliged to move into its new quarters before these were fully furnished, this equipment now being in_ the course of manufacture at the railway workshops. It is understood that the offices vacated in Edinburgh House will bo taken over by the New Zealand Shipping Company Ltd. DEPARTMENTS YET TO SHIFT. Only four Government departments have yet to be transferred into the Post , Office building. They are the Department of Agriculture (fourth floor), Primary Produce Marketing Departs ment (fifth), Lands and Survey (sixth), and Valuations (sixth).