F—l

Surplus defence buildings were also adapted to provide hostel accommodation for departmental officers as follows : Auckland (capacity 56), Trentham (capacity 276), and Johnsonville (capacity 116). Bachelor accommodation was also provided from surplus buildings at Clydevale (three-man), Paparoa (four-man), Putaruru (seven-man), and Ruatoria (four-man). The old post-office buildings at Balclutha and South Dunedin were demolished. A building in Wellington (Whitmore Street) formerly owned by the United States Joint Purchasing Board and leased by the Department for parcels-post purposes was acquired during the year. Land was acquired at Alexandra (for. line depot), Balmoral (for post-office), Blenheim (for transit housing), Caversham (for residence), Dargaville (for residence), Gisborne (for transit housing), Green Lane (for post-office), Huntly (for residence), Johnsonville (for hostel), Moray Place (for extension of post-office site), Mount Maunganui (for residence), Nelson (for transit housing), Ngaio (for post-office), Ngatimoti (for rural automatic-telephone exchange), North New Brighton (for post-office), Ohakune Junction (for residence), Omakau (for transit housing), Onehunga (for residence), Opunake (for residence), Otira (for post-office and carrier building), Paeroa (for transit housing), Papanui (for automatic-telephone exchange), Paraparaumu Beach (for residence), Remuera (for residence), Rotowaro (for post-office), South Dunedin (for residence), Stokes Yalley (for post-office), Taihape (for residence), Tawa Flat (for post-office and residence), Three Kings (for automatic-telephone exchange), Waipukurau (for extension of post-office site), Whangarei (for residence), and Whangarei North (for post-office). The post-office building at Burnham Military Camp, the old post-office and site at Rai Yalley, the postmaster's old residence and site at Stratford, the old post-office site at Wanaka, the old post-office building at Tokoroa, and the lineman's residence at Waverley were disposed of during the year. Land at the following places was also disposed of: Kaikoura (portion of residence site to Education Board for extension of school site), Paraparaumu Beach (postmaster's residence site exchanged for Police Department site), Pihama (redundant post-office site), Rakaia (redundant portion of postmaster's residence site), Tauranga (portion of Do&t-office and line-store - garage sites for street-widening), Wellington (redundant post-office site, Tinakori Road), and White's Bay (cable-hut site). At the end of the year the following works were in progress : Ashburton (additional post-office accommodation), Auckland (Newmarket, alterations to workshops), Auckland East (erection of residence), Auckland West (erection of residence), Balclutha (erection of post-office building), Carterton (erection of residence), Christchurch (erection of temporary carpenters' and body-building workshop), Dunedin (additional workshops accommodation), Feilding (erection of post-office building), Forbury (erection of residence), Gisborne (additional garage and workshops accommodation), Glen Eden (erection of residence), Glen Murray (erection of rural automatic-telephone-exchange building), Hastings (additional line depot accommodation), Karori (erection of residence), Lower Hutt (alterations to post-office building), Manners Street (Wellington) (providing post-office accommodation in existing building), Mauriceville (erection of post-office building), Northcote (erection of residence), Opunake (erection of temporary telephoneexchange building), St. Albans (erection of residence), Sydenham (erection of residence), Silverdale (additions to post-office building), Tamaki (erection of temporary telephoneexchange building), Taihape (erection of line-store and garage building), Te Aroha (erection of residence), Te Kuiti (erection of post-office building), Te Papapa (erection of residence), Three Kings (erection of temporary telephone-exchange building), Waipukurau (erection of telephone-exchange building), Wakefield (alterations to postoffice building), and Whitianga (erection of residence).

22