IS IT EXTRAVAGANT?

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2567, 15 September 1915, Page 4

IS IT EXTRAVAGANT?

THE RAILWAY CENTRAL OFFICE, The charge of extravagance is made against the Government" by Mr._ H. G. Ell, M.P., for the maintenance in Wellington of a railway office in Willis . Street. In the Home yesterday he said that the annual cost of the office was - £830. and lie contended that as the Tourist Department Office Has only 300 yards away, the work novr. done at the Railway Central Office could be done quite satisfactorily by the Tourist Office. . The Hon. W. H. Hemes (Minister or Railways) said, that the total annual cost of the office in Willis Street was £750, and he did not propose to close it, because he had been told on every hand that the office filled a long-felt want. The fact that some of the work now done in the office might be done in the ■Tourist Office was perhaps a reason why the Tourist Department should he amalgamated with the Railway Department, but it was not a reason why the Railway Department should close an office which was of great use to the public. Oil the contrary, the Railway Depart, ment proposed to extend thefunctiona and the usefulness of the Central Office.