The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, DEC. 19, 1907. PARLIAMENTARY BUILDINGS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3778, 19 December 1907, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, DEC. 19, 1907. PARLIAMENTARY BUILDINGS.

Sir Joseph Ward’s suggestion about building a new Parliament House on the site of Government House and the demolition of the present gubanatorial residence and the building of a new one elsewhere does not find favour in the. Empire City. The Post goes exhaustively into the whole question, and in the course of a leading article, says:—“ Taking more positive ground, we may point out that there are larger assets at stake than the mere site values. The Library wing of the Parliamentary Buildings still stands, and it is as good as new. The Government Buildings, old as they are, should last for many years longer, if managed with care, and, indeed, two of the wings are recent additions. How could purchasers or tenants be found for these building's if their present occupants were transferred en masse to new quarters at the other end of the town ? The Government Printing Office, with its new and roomy building and its up-to-date equipment, presents another problem. Of necessity the Printing Office must be in the immediate neighbourhood of Parliament House, and all that has been erected on the present site would have to be abandoned and a fresh start made in the new neighbourhood if the change were decided on. Public buildings on an adequate scale are, of course, a necessity, but we should make shift with what we have got as long as possible, instead of borrowing huge sums for work that would be for the most part unproductive. To erect public , buildings in the.capital on the scale of

the Dunedin railway station, for instance, would be absolutely indefensible, although to some swelled heads among us the change from colony to Dominion appears to justify a disregard of all the ordinary standards of -prudence and economy. For present r needs, let a new Parliament house, not necessarily an imposing and costly structure, be erected on the old site, and,'when the time comes for a further expansion, let a new home be provided for the Governor and his present domain be allocated to new public offices. The utmost requirements of the future can be provided for in this way, while the scandal of an extravagant and vain-glorious expenditure far in excess of present .needs will also be avoided. Since the above was written, the Premier, in his speech at Dunedin, showed appreciation ot the possibilities of the Government House site, but he also talks of building ‘something that would be for all lime a credit to the Dominion.’ A Dominion with a big D of course requires a big House, and a big House will require big salaries for its members, and all these things will require more big loans, to end in a big smash some day. Surely such a time as the present, when we are beginning to feel the backwash of the financial crisis in the United States and our wool sales are telling their tale to the most thoughtless, is the worst possible time for the extravagance which Sir Joseph Ward appears to contemplate.”,