AN AMBITIOUS PROJECT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10628, 3 December 1910, Page 4

AN AMBITIOUS PROJECT.

-r.: ' By Telegraph. , ii (From Our Own Correspondent.) ;; . Wellington, December 2. -HOxtsiJie vote of, £20,000 in the Enblic Estimates, on account of. new Parliamentary Buildings, Mr Lauren§on moved a reduction of £1 as an indjgaiaon of the opinion that before spending money, oil Government buildisgs; iri Wellington an inquiry should as to the cost, of -a suitable .where a new city could be established;, the post of. moving the lieads of Government departments and erecting bjijldings,.. and the probable revenue which .would . accrue from leasing portions off;the capital site and the Government JahdT vacated in Wellington. • Mr Laurenson appealed to the Prime Minister , not to make it a party tun.- Ite'put down the total _cost of establishing the new city at £700,000, apd.beliyved that the ground rents in iVKellipgtpn and the new site would pay the whole cost. The 's&pia*world was agog with town planzmig r rbut Wellington was too awkward 1 to'im prove,, He believed that the place for~thc ;n«sw buildiiig was in the North Islands and lio appealed to the House further expense without infljiitj-i; ..... , ... t Minister replied that it tliq report . was ever obtained it would bd pigeonholed., for the reason that tli§ hajKls of tile clock could not be turned back -Hundreds of thousands of pounds iejXJiiem -spent on the accessories of government, in Wellington, and uiuit dreds of homes of civil servants had been, provided in that city. If it was as ; question of moving the capital, .there was a majority, against it, and'he hoped members' ears would not b&vtickled ; by the idea pf getting a remotion was.rejected by 39 votes to 23, .. ./• -••• _ .