POLITICS AND LEAKS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

POLITICS AND LEAKS

OLD ROOFS AND CARPETS LEGISLATORS' COMPLAINTS VICTORIA'S PARLIAMENT HOUSE The increasing dilapidation of Victoria's Parliament House in Melbourne was the subject of a complaint and a suggestion by Mr. Michaelis in the Legislative Assembly lately. He spoke of "the urgent need to put Parliament House into a reasonable state of ropair for the Centenary." The building, Mr. Michaelis complained, had been ' "allowed to drift" for a good many years, and in some parts it was unsafe. Ho referred particularly to a stone pediment facing the tennis courts at the rear of the building, which, though protected by scaffolding, was in danger of falling. On one occasion water had leaked through the roof while a debate was in progress. Some of the enrpets in the building ought to bo renewed or renovated for the Centenary, and some of the leather work was beginning to break away. It was time that a survey was made of the whole building and its contents with n view to putting it into reasonable order. It was very poor economy to allow the place to go to rack and ruin.

Mr. Holland referred to the loss of valuable records through the leaking roof of the library, and Mr. Jewell pointed out that unless money was expended on repairs and renovations now, in a year or two it would cost thousands of pounds to restore the buildings. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Tunneclifle, said that his room had leaked badly, and urgent representa-

tions had had to be made for its repair. Even so the water stains on the ceiling were a monument to the parsimony of the Ministry. The Melbourne Town Hall was in marked contrast to Parliament House, which was claimed by some to be the finest building of its type in the world. The Attorney-General, Mr. Macfarlan, said that it was of no use to blame the present Ministry for the condition of the building. The whole question of repairs, however, was being considered by the House Committee. When he had become Attorney-General he was so amazed at the condition of his office in the Crown Law buildings that he had refused to use it until the Public Works Department had effected repairs. The carpet had been on the floor for 40 years, he believed. He certainly agreed that Parliament House was worthy of attention. Members of Parliament fear not only that the roof of Parliament House is in a bad condition, says the Argus, but that that of the Exhibition Building is also in disrepair. Mr. Jewell, in the debate on the Estimates in the Legislative Assembly, directed attention to the fact that, while about £12,000 had been spent on renovating the interior of the Exhibition Building, with excellent results, the exterior was in a disgraceful condition. Paint was needed not only on the walls, but on roof, to preserve the structure, he said. At present the roof was an ugly patchwork of old and new iron, and it was in such a condition that it would soon become dangerous, as well as unsightly, unless it were protected by paint.