DUNEDIN POST OFFICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21537, 8 January 1932, Page 4

DUNEDIN POST OFFICE

WHY STOP THE WORK? A MANUFACTURER’S OPINION. In conversation with a Daily Times reporter yesterday, Mr J. G. Jeffery, president of the Dunedin Manufacturers’ Association, stated that in his opinion the Prime Minister (Mr G. W. Forbes) was making a mistake in stopping work on the new Post Office at Dunedin, and he gave his reasons for his statement as follows: —Although New Zealand would be unable to borrow money in Great Britain for some time to come, why not float a loan locally and utilise some of the “frozen moneys” in the local banks? Very little material would have to be imported for the Post Office; the bulk of it would be locally hewn and manufactured. More important still, the building trade, a “key” industry, was in the depths of stagnation at the present time, and the community as a whole could not look for prosperity unless the building and allied trades were busy, as these trades vitalised practically the whole of the other trades. What a difference it would make to the unemployment problem for the coming winter if work were in progress at the Post Office site. The matter of expense in Government departments being housed all over the city and the want of efficiency which this entailed was another argument in favour of getting on with the work. PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT NO ADVICE OF STOPPAGE. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, January 7. The head office of the Public Works Department has no information regarding the Dunedin Post Office hold-up. Tenders have been invited, but, in view of the Prime Minister’s reported statement, it was difficult to see how they could be received.