F.—l.

WORKSHOPS. The total value of the work performed in the departmental workshops during the year amounted to £108,496. BUILDINGS AND LAND. New post-office buildings were erected at Toko and Petone, and additions were made to the Rotorua and Wellsford buildings. Improvements in the accommodation were effected at the following places : — Broadwood. Taumarunui (old post-office building). Duntroon. Timaru. Kaukapakapa. Waipu. Lyttelton. Wakefield. Paekakariki. Wanganui (garage). Riccarton. Warkworth. Garages were erected at Hamilton, Kaikohe (also line-shed), and Paeroa (additional), and the garages at Opotiki, Taumarunui, and Wanganui were extended. The following buildings were in course of erection at the end of the year : — Albury. Ohingaiti (addition). Auckland (garage). Pahiatua (post-office and residence). Cambridge (addition). Porangahau. Dunedin. Rangiora. Hampden (addition). Te Puke (garage). Kaikoura (building for carrier-current Wellington (additional story on General Post Office equipment). building). Areas of land no longer required at the following places were relinquished or disposed of : Lower Hutt (portion of automatic-exchange site for street-widening), Marohemo, Petone (portion of postoffice site for street-widening), Palmerston North (strip of chief post-office site), Papakura, Piriaka, Turakina, Wanstead, Woodville. The disposal was effected also of the old post-office buildings at Marohemo and Porangahau, the old post-office buildings and sites at Auckland East and Clinton, the postmaster's residence and a portion of the site at Ophir, the lineman's residence and the old post-office building and site at Kawakawa, the lineman's residence and site at Ohura, the old post-office site and the schoolhouse thereon at Whakataki, and the line-depot building and site at Stout Street, Wellington. Areas of land were acquired as follows : Aramoho (extension of post-office site), Belfast (for postoffice), Dargaville (for store-garage), New Plymouth (for chief post-office), Otorohanga (for post-office), Papakura (for post-office), Rangiora (extension of post-office site), Thames (extension of chief postoffice site), Wellington (extension of Mount Etako radio-station site). In addition, the following postoffice sites formerly held on lease were taken over from the Railways Department : Auckland (plus portion of old railway-station site), Ahuroa, Balfour, Foxton, Granity, Halcombe, Hastings, Helensville, Kaipara Flats, Kopaki, Methven, Mount Albert, Newmarket, Ngongotaha, Ohakune Junction, Ongarue, Otira, Otorohanga, Owaka, Porirua, Stratford, Tuakau, Waharoa, and Winton. A workshop building and site at Newmarket were also taken over from the Railways Department. The post-office building at Tokoroa, which was the property of the local settlers, was taken over by the Department. The acquisition of a central site for a new post-office building at Tauranga and a new site for a garage-store, &c., at Whangarei has been approved, and the erection has been authorized of new postoffice buildings at Avondale, Hamilton, Little River, Omakau, Otorohanga, Queenstown, Sumner, and Waikari. Authority has also been given for the erection of postmasters' residences at Omakau and Waikari ; a caretaker's residence at the Wellington radio-station ; a garage at Takapuna ; garage and line-shed at Wakefield ; store and line-shed at Wyndham ; and store-line-garage buildings at Dargaville and Hawera. The post-office building at Ivumeu was destroyed by fire in August, and the office is at present accommodated in temporary premises. When the Jubilee of His Majesty King George V was celebrated in May, 1935, the post-office buildings at thirty-one of the principal centres throughout the Dominion were decorated in a manner befitting the occasion. The buildings at Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin, which were also illuminated and flood-lit, presented a striking appearance at night. In the smaller towns post-office buildings were dressed with flags. Little more than eight months after the Silver Jubilee celebrations, the rejoicings of that occasion, still fresh in the memory of the people, were turned to sorrow by the news of His Majesty's death on the 20th January last. Immediately it was known that His Majesty had passed away, blinds were drawn in the official portions of post-office buildings, and the New Zealand Ensign was hoisted at half-mast with a black streamer above. At offices with public chiming clocks the chimes were silenced and the bell was tolled once every minute for seventy minutes, representing the King's age ; and, after an interval of three minutes, it was tolled again twenty-five times at one-minute intervals, representing the number of years of the King's reign. The post-office buildings in the main centres and in many of the larger towns were draped in purple and black, generally around the main entrance, but at several offices, including those at the four centres, the draping was extended to cover the greater part of the facade.

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