NEW PLYMOUTH CUSTOM HOUSE.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 April 1926, Page 6

NEW PLYMOUTH CUSTOM HOUSE.

It is nearly time the present caricature of a Custom House in New Plymouth made way for a 'building more -worthy of the town and of the Department. The present premises were occupied “as a temporary arrangement” in 1920. When the increase in the activities in the Post and Telegraph Department made it necessary for that department to occupy the portion of the postal buildings which up to that time had been occupied by the Custom Department. The present Cuetom house is a 'wooden building of some age, and the actual dimeensions of the two rooms in which the collector and his staff of four have to do their work are 17ft Bin., and 2i3ft and 17ft Bin. and 13ft respectively. The larger of the. two is the “long room,” i.s., the office in which the public transact business with tire department, and it would be scorned as utterly inadequate by any bank or insurance company doing a fraction of the business carried out by H. and M. Customs. The other room is occupied by the collector, In whose private office, for lack of other accommodation, the files and other documenta have to be stored. There is no strong room for the safe custody of important documents, and the lavatory accommodation for the staff la primitive in the extreme, and the convenience for washing being a ba,sin

in a corner of the collector’s room. Anyone who has much to do with customs clearance work can testify to the inconvenience and inadequacy of the public office, Tt is impassible to discuss matters with that privacy which is often desirable, and, though the staff does its best, the inadequacy of the office often causes an exasperating waste of time. Moreover, in the past eight years the growth of the Fort of New Plymouth has meant a large In'crcase In direct shipments with a corresponding increase in customs collections.’ For the years 1914 to 1921 the increase of collections at New Plymouth was remarkable. Tn 1914 the amount was £48,9911, and in 1921 it was £106,769. The years 1922 and 1923 were the lean ones which are well remembered. Collections for 1922 being £64,464. Since then progress has been more rapid than ever, until the record of £126,465 was reached In the year which closed on the 31st of last' month. It is no exaggeration to say that no branch of the Custom Department doing this amount of business Is so miserably housed as Is that nt New Plymouth. At Nelson, where the collections are approximately half those in New Plymouth—figures for 1925 being £58,298 in Nelson, and £lO9, 424 In New Plymouth—there Is a very fine Custom house. It is high time the department bestirred itself. Land in the business portion of New Plymouth will certainly not cheapen, but at present there arc excellent sites available nt a reasonable figure. The sooner one is obtained, and a suitable building erected thereon the better.