The Delayed Post Office.
o REMARKS BY THE MAYOR. The Government Architect (Mr John Campbell) of the Public Works Department wrote submitting to Monday night's iiiuuting of the Borough Council a rough plan in connection with the erection of tho clock tower ut the proposed new post olllce, and asking the Council's permission for the tower to bo built projecting over the footpath. It would have an archwuy beneath for pedestrians to pass through, so thai there would be no blockage of the footpath. Tho idea was to mount the clock prominently so that it could be. seen from up and down the street, and thus mako it of great service to the public. The Mayor denied, as indicated by the published telegrams, that he was in any way responsible for the delay. He had never received any application to bring before 1 the Council. The suggestion was made by the Council a long time ago that a clock tower should be erected projecting over tho footpath, and he understood that the Government had refused it. The architect sent Mr Smith, M.H.R., a private note, in which he had a very rough sketch similar to tho one now submitted to the Council. He said in the letter
that it would be necessary to apply to the Counc 1 for permission for tho tower to project over the footpath, but as Mr Smith had no request to make to tho Council, and the Government had never made any request to the Borough Council, thero was nothing really to bring before the Council. He (tho Mayor) had had the letter in his office. The Mayor proceeded to question the bona fides of tho Government in connecwrth the proposed new post office. Ho considered that this application was only a "hoodwinking arrangement." With others, he personally for years | had been agitating for the now building. He had always maintained that the present old structure was inadequate, and, in fact, had moved that the health inspector's attention should be called to it, as it was not a lit place to accommodate the number of people working in the post post office portion. ' Such a state of things would not bo permitted to exist in any other part of New Zealand. For two years the stun oi £4OOO had been on the Estimates, and last year £IOOO. In the face of all this not one penny piece had been spent on the building, so that the Government now owed the town £9OOO, ns the accumulated surplus. (Laughter.) Tho present was the first official application that had been sent to the Council. He (the Mayor), supposed that provision for the new building would be made on the Estimates for 190.5 ; at all events he hoped so. He gave Mr Smith., M.H.H., credit for. having all along done his level best to get the post office erected. He moved that the Government be given permission in the terms of the Chief Architect's letter. "Wo may get the building'," he concluded, "God knows when." Cr. Brooking, in seconding the motion, remarked that it had been agreed to raise up to £3OO toward the cost of erecting a clock lower, on the Government subsidising this amount to the extent of £ for l>, Thiy had been informed at the time, however, that the Government would not agree to the proposal to con. struct the tower over the footpath, as when Government money was allocated the building must be wholly on Government land. That settled the idea at once, but if the Government were now willing to fall in with their proposal, well and good. Permission was unanimously granted, the Council showing every desire to expedite the work,
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7795, 11 April 1905, Page 2
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617The Delayed Post Office. Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7795, 11 April 1905, Page 2
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