GOVERNMENT OFFICES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19303, 16 April 1926, Page 10

GOVERNMENT OFFICES.

PROVISION IN AUCKLAND. CENTRALISATION SCHEME. A LARGE BUILDING PLANNED. The fist step in an important scheme aiming at the ultimate centralisation of the Government departments in Auckland, lias been taken with the purchase by the State Fire and Accident Department of {lie vacant site at the corner of Chancery Street, Courthouse Lane and High Street. Sir R. Heaton Rhodes, M.L.C., whose recent Ministerial portfolios included the control of the State Fire and Accident Department, is at present in Auckland finalising matters in this connection. In a statement last evening Sir Heaton said Cabinet had recently approved the purchase of the site and a four or fivestorey building will be erected as soon as possbile. The State Fire and Accident office will be on the ground floor, and other Government departments on the upper floors. Provision will be made for the addition of further storeys, up to the limit of the city by-laws, when more space

is required. The scheme, while providing the State Fire and Accident Department with permanent accommodation for its own purposes, will enable the Government departments to be centralised in an excellent position, Sir Heaton added. The Government will also be relieved of the necessity for building on its own account for the housing of departments which are at the present time pressed for room. Sir Heaton preferred to make no statement at the present juncture as to the cost of the scheme. The site, he stated, will require to be excavated to the street level before building operations are commenced.