17

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Increased or improved accommodation for departmental purposes has been provided at the following places : — Cromwell. Oturehua. Dannevirke (accommodation for line staff). Palmerston North (garage, &c.). Geraldine (store). Rotorua. Hamilton (automatic telephone exchange). Roxburgh (garage). Hastings (store, &c.). Te Kuiti (garage). Invercargill. Tokaanu. Kilbirnie (Wellington). Wairoa. Kopaki. Waitomo Caves. Matakana. Waiuku (garage). Newmarket (Auckland), (workshops). Wellesley Street (Auckland), (parcels branch). New Plymouth (telephone exchange and Wellington (Public Service garage). money-order branch). Wellington South. The following works are in progress : — Blenheim (garage and store). Christchurch (alterations). Courtenay Place (Wellington), (new post-office building). Dunedin (foundations for new chief post-office building). Greymouth (addition and alterations). Kurow (new post-office building and separate residence for Postmaster). Masterton (addition and alterations). Napier (new chief post-office building). Nelson (addition and alterations). Newton (addition and alterations). Whangarei (addition and alterations). The ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the Napier building was performed by the Prime Minister (the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Ward) on the 9th May, 1929. The erection of new buildings at the following places has been authorized : — Dunedin. Taumarunui. Greymouth (garage and store). Te Anga. High Street (Christchurch). Upper Symonds Street (Auckland). Hinds (residence for Postmaster). Waitara. Mount Albert (Auckland). Walton (garage, &c.). Palmerston (South). Westport. Petone. An addition to the Kaikohe post-office building has been authorized. Land. Areas of land were purchased for departmental purposes as follow :• —• Birkenhead (central site for post-office building). Dannevirke (site for store and garage). Gisborne (site for store and garage). Hastings (site for store and garage). Rangiora (additional land for storage purposes). Lower Hutt (site for automatic-telephone exchange). Action is being taken to acquire sites for post-office buildings at Te Anga and Thornbury, and a more suitable site at Ruatoria. Miscellaneous. On the 6th March a fire which originated in an adjoining building destroyed the post-office building at Urenui. With the assistance given by the residents the Postmaster was able to save the whole of the. departmental records and valuables. This enabled business to be continued almost immediately in temporary premises. The matter of erecting a new building is now under action. At Dunsandel and Tariki the postal business was separated from the railway business. The cost of altering the railway-station premises to provide separate accommodation for the post-office was borne in each case by the Post and Telegraph Department. During the year the heating installation in the General Post Office building was fitted with automatic oil-burners in place of the coke-furnaces, at considerable gain in efficiency. Steel lockers, shelving, and private letter-boxes of New Zealand manufacture are now being provided in departmental buildings instead of wooden fittings. The use of steel will be extended to other classes of fittings as may be found desirable. OVERSEAS MAILS. Except that a mishap to the " Makura " made it necessary for that vessel to be replaced by the " Marama " for the trip commenced at Wellington on the 27th March, 1930, the contract mail-services between Auckland and Vancouver, and between Wellington and San Francisco, have been carried out without interruption by the R.M.M.S. " Aorangi" and R.M.S. " Niagara," and the R.M.S. " Makura " and R.M.S. " Tahiti " respectively.

3—F. 1.