AUCKLAND'S PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13450, 29 May 1907, Page 5

AUCKLAND'S PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

Sir,—ln your issufc of the 18th iust. flier* appears a letter under the above heading, by "Touchstone," who savs the public buildings of Capetown, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney,; Christchurch, and Dunodin am milea ahead of Auckland, and bemoans over the position of the Queen City of this colony, and says even Wanganui, with only 8000 of a population, can show a post office,' Opera House,.and railway station that might """* well make Auckland mourn. Even the Public Library is not to his liking, as ha • understands it was built with funds philanthropic! What does the man want? lias ho looked round our fair city, which 3 Kipling stated was " last, but loveliest of all '1 Has he not seen our Magistrate's Court and Kegistor of Deeds Office, where tho entries of all the freehold estate are 1 ; kept? Has he not seen the Stamp Office and accommodation for the numerous clerks in, that most profitable Department?, Has he not. viewed our first Crown Lands Office in Princes-street, once tho glory of the city, standing next- to the Grand Hotel? Has no person invited "Touchstone" to visit tho fine offices of tho Agricultural D*»partment in Jermyn-street, and the Public Health Office in Chancery-street, and our University buildings, our splendid Admiralty House at Emily ; Place, with its Napior design? He tells of the shedding at the railway station. But has he not wan th<3 fine modern structure in course of erection between the railway platform and the big hotel? Why, "Touchstone" has not, seen half our public buildings yet; and then he goes for Mr. Millar, Minister for Labour, poor man! and winds up with some Shake** pereaa conundrums, as if we could help his "Much Ado Abou*, Nothing!" Seeing that be has given us a shock almost as, vital as wo received from Macbeth, and are ready to cry out, "My kingdom for a horse " • (or our votes for public buildings), surely "Touchstone'' must have had a bad quarter in "The Taming of the Shrew," and' has' concluded that we Aucklanders are "The Merry Wives of Windsor." But I can as-;; sure him that "All's Well That Ends Well.' ; - - 01/ D Colonist. ...