NEW PARLIAMENT HOUSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14806, 9 October 1911, Page 5

NEW PARLIAMENT HOUSE.

ARCHITECTS ANSWERED. !

The announcement of the prize-winner* in the Parliamentary Building competition was followed By complaints from a few architects that the Government architect, Mr. John Campbell, 'who; won -the first prize, - was in ta' position !of unfair superiority ' over others' because he could obtain a more.accurate. knowledge of i the • accommodation required in the new build- ; ing. - The • criticism, was brought under the Hon. R. McKenzie's notice by a New Zealand Times reporter . last week, who . obtained . some ~ interesting facts 'relating ,to the big'.'national building. "The thing is too big to deal with before the end of this .session,!V replied the Minister, when -he was asked, , if.the ' Government had -come ; to a,; decision, re-'• garding the adoption of any . particular plan. J " I, ( did. not imagine, » did Colonel Vernon, the. assessor,^that there* : -was so much architectural skill and initiative in the Dominion. _ The : result has been - excellent. . As for the criticisms, *. 1 am able. to deny the suggestion,;that;,any ' of the work . was , done in Government time or in - any. Government office. Architects in the Civil Service were circularised - by .; me before the competition,.: to,/ make . sure that they', would : not ;do . any . competitive : work except i in their i own time, : and away from Government offices. ; The ; designs *»were . assessed • by Colonel Vernon purely on their architectural & points and adherence to the conditions _ of the competition, ? a copy, thereof' being sent to him ~ before he left' Sydney, v, As ■ . for , r the cost limit, this was . set bv the Government at £ 110,000 r; . with" 10 per cent, for contingencies. We have -Colonel ' Vernon's estimate of .what, it would , cost to construct... the- first ninij building, Jas he took out , their - cubic - contents, ; and ■ ascertained " the cost ; of materials in New -, - Zealand. -