FRENCH EXTRAVAGANCE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 48, 15 July 1912, Page 6

FRENCH EXTRAVAGANCE

COSTLY BUILDING NEVER FINISHED. Those who grumble at the wastage in certain of our public Department may find a little consolation in the fact that other countries are similarly afflicted. The Paris Matin, for instance, tells an amusing story of how the French Government erected a building at a cost of £240,000 nine years ago, and after installing a caretaker took no further steps to utilise it, on the ground that its was "not quite finished." In the year 1902, says the journal, the Government decided to create a special Audit Department, and a list of nominations to the various posts were drawn up. An aged reservist whose services to the country entitled him to fitting rewards, was appointed caretaker of a new building which was being erected for the department in the Rue Cambon. He was told to take charge at once. The building was not quite finished, but within a month or two everything would be in order and the members of the Ministry would take up their duties there. Proudly the reservist took up his quarters in the vast but unfinished palace. For days he -walked through the immense building without seeing another human being, but at last the dispirted man began to beguile his time by learning a new variation of his favorite game of patience. Fortunately for the caretaker, he had taken the precaution to bring with him to the empty building a kitten and a canary. For two years he saw no one and heard nothing, although he received his monthly salary with military punctuality. In 1905 the architect rushed in and breathlessly Remarked that a little furniture would be brought into the hurtling, and it would then immediately become a busy hive. The kitten had become a grey-haired and tired-looking eat when, in 1908, the caretaker, wearied by the strain of waiting, complained to the departmental heads. He was soothed by a promise that everything would soon be right. Finally even the patience of the longsuffering caretaker came to an end. for last month he resigned his position. The empty palace in the Rue Cambon, which was* erected at a cost of £240,000, is still awaiting one or two slight alterations.