THE New Zealand Herelad AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1907. PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13484, 10 May 1907, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herelad AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1907. PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

The discussion upon public buildings which took place. ' yesterday at ! the Chamber of Commerce cannot but do good. For the only prospect, we have of securing an alteration in the. policy of the Public Works Department, as it affects Auckland City, is by persistently drawing the attention of our citizens to the really scandalous neglect with which the city is treated and to the impossibility of carrying on the public business in the wretchedly inadequate premises provided by the Government; Mr. Millar, that ardent advocate . of the interests of Dunedin and Otago, told the Aucklanders who banqueted him on Wednesday night that it w;as very wrong to foster the cry of North versus South. And he eloquently trusted "that no man in the colony, whether he came from trie extreme North or from the- extreme South, would permit the interests of the two islands to be divided." But had Mr. Millar seen our public buildings ? If he had we can only assume that his idea of unity of interests is for pub- j lic revenue to be collected here and j for public buildings to be erected somewhere else. We maintain un- ] hesitatingly that the interests of the.! two ■ islands are so much the same that public money ought to be spent here just as readily as it is in other places. Bui our /Unfortunate experience is that very inferior cities in the • Southsuch as Dunedin and Invercargill, to mention no othershave been endowed with public buildings considerably in excess of their legitimate claims or ordinary uses, while Auckland is inconsistently treated as though it had absolutely no rights in the , matter. These are hard facts, which cannot be cavalierly elbowed out of existence by the accusation that when we present them we "foster the cry of North versus South." Mr. Millar and his colleagues can easily put an end to that accusing cry if they wish to do so; they can give to Auckland what it is equitably entitled to and show us by practical measures that they v actually regard one end of the colony' as having not only similar: i interests, but similar rights as .well, j

i Until they do this they can only ex- [ pect to hear the unpalatable truths to which Aucklanders in self-defence are compelled to call attention. . The Chamber of Commerce discussion on public buildings turned upon the proposition that a combined Railway Station, Post and Telegraph Office, and Telephone Exchange should be erected upon the extensive Queen-street frontage owned by the Government at the present railway , terminus. . The proposition, is well worthy of the further consideration j which the Chamber of Commerce inj tends giving it.* For some very | great change in the Departments ! named is urgently demanded, sup- | posing that Auckland has the same | right to ..the ■ provision of adequate | and creditable public buildings as I she has to contribute to the consoli- | dated revenues from which the fine | public buildings to be found in other cities are provided. A Railway ; Station does not exist in Auckland at the present time we have a ! couple of platforms, partially cover:ed by sheds, and a few- adjacent ; rooms in which railway business is I scrambled over, since there is noI where else to do it. As for the post and telegraph offices, the only individuals who consider them adequate are the members of the Government who visit us. Everybody else knows that they are utterly inadequate, that the accommodation provided for the public is disgraceful, and that the accommodation given to the employees is,far worse. It is notorious that if the Factories Act were applied to the post office, as to other Government buildings, extensive alterations and enlargements would have to be immediately proceeded with. Yet in the face of this we are administratively informed that the post office, although not beautiful, is quite large enough— then we are expected not to mention the altogether different administrative ideas relative to post office accommodation for the South. We are so wofully behindhand with public buildings in Auckland that we are reduced to the fundamental plea that they are not nearly large enough for the business carried on in them. When we come to the admitted postulate, laid down by the Premier himself and endorsed by his subordinates, that public buildings should be architecturally a credit to the colony and an adornment to the place in which they are found—what can we say 1. Mr. Kent told the Chamber. of Commerce yesterday that he did not like using strong language, and then said that our railway and postal buildings are "simply a disgrace to the city and province and to. the Government which makes so little ■ effort to improve them." Our readers will agree, with us that Mr. Kent was mild enough. The miserable sheds termed a " railway, station," with their front of advertising hoarding, and the ancient post office, which is wisely hidden in a side street, are quite unworthy of the name of " public buildings." But we cannot expect the Government to treat the North as it treats the South in this respect until the people of Auckland act, as the people of Southern cities act, and refuse to be longer the victims of a 'grossly Inequitable Public' Works administration. "