POST OFFICE BUILDINGS

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1931, Page 9

POST OFFICE BUILDINGS

DEPARTMENT’S POLICY. LARGE OUTLAY ON DEAR SITES. Adequate buildings efficiently equipped were necessary for the carrying out of the vast business of the Post and Telegraph Department, said the Hon. A. . Hamilton, Postmaster-General, at the opening of the new Wellington East post office on Thursday, when he referred to the department’s policy in regard to new buildings. The ne- post office is a handsorqfe . steel-framed building of eight storeys in Cambridge Terrace. It was erected by tire Hansford and Mills Construction Company, Limited, from designs prepared by the Government architect. The contract price was £54,717 9s 3d. “Not many people anticipated a few years ago that to-day we would be opening' in this district a new post office of the dimensions of this one,” said Mr. Hamilton. “A little over 20 years ago the postal , business at Courtenay Place was conducted in conjunction with a bookseller’s business—to-day you see before you what is required by the altered conditions in the district. A lot of the accommodation is not required for serving the public in this area; but land has reached such a value in this.vicinity that, the fullest use had to be made of the site, and most of the eight storeys will be utilised to house sections of the head office staff of the department which are cramped in the General Post Office building. U “My department has felt for some years that the accommodation for the public in the Courtenay Place building has been inadequate; and perhaps it can be said that we are fortunate that this building was started before the present financial depression occurred. This office is one of the type we call ‘counter offices,’ in that all the business is transacted at the counter.” • . Referring generally •to .the departinent’s building programme, Mr. Hamilton said: “Something .has been said lately about extravagance in providing post, office buildings. While I do not hold with extravagance in anything, it cannot. be overlooked that when we erect a building like this many factors have to be taken into consideration. A big factor is that a post office must be in a central position; and that opens up the cost of land. It would not be a business proposition to put a one-storeyed buildings on a valuable site like this; nor would it be right to put the post office in an obscure back street. This building is as plain as can reasonably be expected, and its great height means that full use is being made of the site.”