COSIER COURTHOUSE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19133, 30 September 1936, Page 4

COSIER COURTHOUSE

PLANS BEING PREPARED SCHEMES REVIEWED MINISTER'S INSTRUCTIONS Plans are under review for the Installation of a. heating system in the Gisbome courthouse. Reports have been secured on three schemes, one for hot water heating, another for gas, and a. third for an electric system. These have been submitted to Wellington, and are at present under consideration. These reports are the result of "representations made to the Minister of Justice, the Hon. H. G. R. Mason, during his visit to Gisbome a few months ago. He was met by members of the Law Society on his inspection- of the courthouse, and the extreme conditions under which solicitors worked were pointed out.

It was stated that the court room was as cold as. a freeing chamber in the winter and as hot as the internal regions in the summer. The Minister promised to investigate the matter on his .return to Wellington, and apparently he was so impressed with the urgency of some improvement that he gave immediate instructions for reports to be prepared.

The schemes under review, it is understood, also include mention of lowering the temperature on hot days, and one ol the proposals is said to be particularly adapted to this purpose. A proposal has been made also, that alterations should be made to the windows, particularly for the removal of the rose tinted glass.

No details of the proposals are available at present, but it is understood thatall three schemes provide for heating apparatus to be placed at each of the benches occupied by the presiding official, the clerk of the court, the solicitors and the press, and also in the boxes for the jury, witnesses and prisoners. It is also oxpeeted that the work, if sanctioned, will be done before next winter.