HARBOUR BOARD OFFICES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19712, 11 August 1927, Page 10

HARBOUR BOARD OFFICES.

NEW BUILDING PROPOSED. NO IMMEDIATE EXPENDITURE. The question of meeting the expanding accommodation requirements of the Auckland Harbour Board staff is being investigated by a. special committee of the board., which expects to report on the subject in about a month. The considerations involve either additions to the present building in Quay Street or the erection o£ a new building, in which case the possibility : of utilising the site of the old graving dock,'in the same vicinity ■, has been suggested. The dock site, which is not at present built upon, is reclaimed land,- and is 2| acres in extent. No expenditure on office accommodation is contemplated for several years, however. ■ Provision was made in the Harbour Board Empowering Act of 1924 for the borrowing .of £250,000 for the purpose of building new offices on the old dock site, and the Marine, Customs and Police Departments were asked the extent of the -accommodation required by them should arrangement's be made for housing those departments in the new building. No finality to these negotiations was reached, and, owing to a falling-off in its revenue -in the ensuing years, the board decided it was not justified in pursuing the scheme at that juncture, considering the large amount of unreproductive expenditure- involved. The question was accordingly-abandoned for/five years. When the harbour development scheme of £he board's engineer, Mr. D. Holderness, '"'was approved last year, it was decided not to seek further borrowing powers, and the schedule for the Empowering Act of 1924 was amended by the deletion of the item of ' £250.000. There is. therefore, no statutory provision' at present for borrowing money for the work. The board, however, has appointed a special committee to investigate the whole question of a policy for the utilisation of dock sites in the future.