TOWN HALL CONGESTION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1749, 14 May 1913, Page 6

TOWN HALL CONGESTION.

NEED FOR MORE OFFICE SPACE. The congestion in tile Town Hall offices, which necessitates certain of the employees working in quite unsuitable quarters was referred to tho Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) bv a Dominion reporter yesterday. '"I am quite in accord with tho goneral-ly-oxpressed view," said Mr. Luke, "that tlio timo has arrived when .something should be done to relievo tho strain imposed upon certain members of tho staff hy reason of the inadequate and uncomfortable accommodation provided for them. And I am not at all in favour of anything of a piecemeal character, .because' ultimately such \vorks_ turn out to bo the most expensive. Whether any comprehensive building scheino can bo undertaken now is largely a question of finance, but in my opinion tho council should instruct its officers to prcparo a plan for the building over the vacant space, now a yard, at tho stage door entrance to tho Town Hall. In developing this scheme I think that provision should be unldo also for further building extension on to the vacant land between tho Education Board's offices and the town "It is a matter for regret that better provision is not made for the comfort and convenience of ofiicers and of (he public. The inadequacy of tho accommodation nns nindo vcrv apparent during tho timo that tho, roll 'prepared for tho last rlection was open for inspection. At first the part of tho building set apart for tho viewing of the roll was simply a cellar below tho hall, and it does not seem , to mo proper that burgesses of Wellington should be invited to go into a cellar to learn whether they nro on the roll or not. Apart, from this such conditions are not those under which tho staff should l)e ospcctcd to show the greatest, efficiency nor nva such quarters conducive to tho good health of tho employees."