OUR PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13452, 31 May 1907, Page 6

OUR PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

RAILWAY STATION AND POST " OFFICE. -I DISCUSSED BY THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. | ■ ; * The council of the Chamber of Com-; 'merce, at. its meeting .yesterday, considered the Auckland railway terminus and the 'Chief Post Office buildings. A report on. | the subject was brought up from the Railway and Shipping Committee. It. was pointed out that owing to the great rapidity at which the city was growing the time had arrived when an important forward movement by the Government . was necessary to cope with the requirements of both, Auckland city and province as a. whole; by providing greatly enlarged public facilities in the way of a combined new railway station, post office, telegraph, and telephone exchange.. It'-was suggested that the Government should take the valuable railway land now lying idle, and erect a large and adequate combined railway station and post and telegraph offices;, also that the present site of the post office in Shortland-street be sold and the amount realised be devoted to the erection of the proposed flew buildings. | Mr. B. Kent, chairman of the committee, who was absent through indisposition,! wrote as follows: —

The present railway section is not being used' ! beyond about one-fourth of its capacity,? and a very great deal of most valuable , space is now simpiy wasted. there hi | ample room for both a railway station and! j Postal Department there to meet the requirements of this city for many years toi i come. Objection to the Railway Commit-! tee's report has been made by a member' or two on the ground that the Postal De-j ; v partment erected on the railway section j i would be out of the way. Well, to most people the difference in distance is practically nil, as very few merchants or ordinary business people post their own letters, whilst to people in the upper portion of Queen-street there is already good auxiliary postal accommodation. Un the score of spate, after examining the' ground many time 3, and giving the matter a good deal of careful thought, I have no Hesitancy is giving it as my opinion that there is abundance of room for all our require- ' ments. Gentlemen must remember that in erecting telegraph, telephone, and postal departments, on the section indicated, the buildings would be three or four storeys high, with good bold commanding front-( ages to. Queen-street. Moreover, it is quite j unnecessary for any of the present railway lines to run close up to Queen-street footi paths, as they now do, and that being so most valuable building space'becomes at I ■ once available. j I freely admit that the 'present position of the Postal and Telegraph Departments is | an admirable one. it the space had been : about three times as large as it now is. I Unfortunately, the 'position is * cramped past all remedy. 1 know the Department have done what they can with the limited space at their disposal, and would willingly do more, if they could, but they cannot. If the Government had secured Hobson Buildings and added them to their own property when the opportunity offered some time ago, they would have done a wise thing. ' That opportunity has now gone, definitely. Some members of the council have said that the Government • .should build in Queen-street Gentlemen, will you kindly remember that any frontage in Queen-street purchased by the Government means.£3oo per foot, and that the area 'required is very large. Now, having excelfeit building space of their • own, 1 do not think we can expect them to go elsewhere when the time comes for giving Auckland some decent public build-ings-affording accommodation suitable for . the'city's rapidly increasing needs. II honestly believe the time for a great forward movement jin these matters is now. to-day, anil every member of the council ■should give all his weight and influence in j that direction. It' has been said recently by Government| • officials ' that our facilities are equal ,to those in other places. ' We are little* concerned in that . What we. require, and certainly must have, is facilities for our own requirements, pot something equal to demands elsewhere. I am sorry not to be • able to attend in my place and speak personally to these, matters, but am too unwell. If it be possible I hope the Chamber will be united in their demands for better public buildings, so that we may go to the Government hereon with no' divided front. ' ■ ; •• : CLAIMS OF SHORTLAND-STREET; ' The.President. (Mr. N. A. Nathan) said he was not at one with Mr. Kent but all the same he did not speak, as might be supposed, as one particularly interested m the post office site being in Shortiandstreet. He thought the present position of ithe post , office was' everything , that was desired so far as position was concerned. Every, opportunity ,1 should be taken, however, to urge upon the Government the need for greatly improved facilities.- 1 The various' departments might be divided so that more room should be available. for . the « public; but he thought it would be . mistake .to have the port office in a less- central position than it at present occupied. * It would ' certainly be disadvantageous for the public if the 1 post office were removed from its present site. Mr. T. Peacock '. said it seemed , a mistake to concentrate the railway station and postal . offices. The Chamber should, however, take' action in getting a suitable railway station, but as for the post office he could not imagine a more central.position than that' which it occupied. He thought the council could v approve that portion of the: report affirming the immediate necessity for improving postal accommodation. ,

Mr. I. Evans said the accommodation at the railway station was not going to be any . larger than would be required. . Mr. J. B. Macfaxlane held that a fresh site was ' absolutely necessary for • the post office, and all departments. of postal and telegraph business should be under one roof. * No ono complained • about ' the post office : being near the wharf in Wel- . lington. It would -be a great mistake to ask the Government to make the present building into a new office. It could not be done. ' *

The President said he understood' that the block in Shortland-street, from O'Con-aell-street to High-street, and back, to Vulcan Lane, had been s-uggested as suitable for a* post office site. If this were taken, too, it would admit of the widening of High-street by six feet. Mr. Macfarlane considered that a fresh site for the post office would-be absolutely necessary. ' ■ NEED FOR CENTRALISATION. : ,

Mr. McCallum pointed out that the proximity of the post office to rail and steamers was in the best interests of the prompt handling of mail business. He believed it would occupy two years in reconstructing the present post office. He understood that Messrs. Arch. Clark and Co.'s premises would be available in about 18 months. These premises could be taken for a temporary post office, but that would mean , a delay of some 18 months or two years. If action were taken at once, land could be obtained at the railway station, and the post office put up in 12 months' time.

Mr. G. L. Peacocke said that everyone admitted that both the railway station and the post'office were absolutely behind the times ,and inadequate. The Government had a large area of land on the railway station property, which was of the greatest ; value, ' and yet it was not at present utilised. This suggestion' to combine post office and railway station was not at all unreasonable. Shortland-street was certainly a central point, but Auckland was growing at such a rapid rate that the present post office would not, perhaps, be in the centre of the city in time to come. As it was utterly impossible to get a better site than that suggested, he thought the Government would be much more likely to help in the construction of the. required new buildings if they were put there than if a costly site had to be purchased. It would be* a great mistake to sell, the pre-sent-post office site, which could be let by the Government to great advantage.

A MISTAKE TO "HUDDLE." Mr. Graves Aickin regretted differing from the chairman of the committee. They should not huddle all the Departments—railway, telegraphs, and postal —together in one building. That would be a serious mistake. The site, of the present post office was one of the best in New Zealand. Mr. A. B. Roberton said there seemed no hope of arriving at unanimity in regard ,to a combined railway and . post office,

floras to the railway station site. He moved' that the * report 'be " adopted in the following form: —"Owing to the great rapidity at which this city is growing, the time has arrived when a forward movement by the Government of this country ;is necessary to cope with the requirements of both the Auckland city and province as a whole, by providing greatly • enlarged public facilities in the way of a | combined new railway station, post office, | and telegraph and telephone exchange. The present railway station is utterly inadequate to meet the requirements of the ! rapidly-increasing travelling, public, and every year emphasises that point, whilst ■ the post office, telegraph and telephone exjchange are so cramped in their present ; buildings that the public convenience suffers severely again and again. We beg [respectfully to suggest that action should j be urged upon the Government to prompt-' Iv supply this city and province with such public conveniences in the way of a new railway station, post office, telegraph department and telephone exchange as would; be in keeping with the largest and most j rapidly increasing city throughout New Zealand." , ! Mr. Thos. Peacock seconded. [ Mr. Roberton observed that it was abso- ; lutely idle for the Chamber to dictate to j the Government what they should do. ' (What was wanted.was for the Government to provide this accommodation, not for the! Chamber to tell them how to do it. ! j The report was unanimously adopted as | ! amended.