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"occupied by the Post Office and an upper floor occupied by the Treasury Department.
"The Post Office is badly lighted and ill-ventilated and the Treasury Offices are inconveniently arranged.
"The present buildings are about thirty years old and though the walls are still sound renewal of the internal fittings and woodwork throughout will shortly necessitate a considerable expenditure if the occupation of the building is continued.
"The accommodation in the Post Office, in spite of the recent arrangement by which the offices of Attorney-General and Crown Solicitor have been placed at the disposal of the department, is so cramped that there is not sufficient room to sort two heavy mails at the same time, while the space devoted to the business of the Parcels Post is insufficient to secure the safe custody of parcels. In fact, the requirements of the Colony have entirely outgrown the accommodation at present available.
"For the Treasury a Strong Room and a Stamp Room are required, also a large room, easily accessible to the public, for accountants and cashiers, and better accommodation for the clerks are greatly needed."
4.-
The members of said Committee further unanimously reported in favour of the Law Courts, Land Office, &c, being erected on the site on the Praya Reclamation immediately in front of the City Hall, and that the Registrar General, Treasury, Post Office, and Public Works Departments should be accommodated in a new building to be erected on the site also on the new Praya Reclamation immediately to the north of that on which the new Law Courts, &c, are to be built.
The two sites in question are Government land, have lain fallow for several years and are still lying fallow.
5.- Sir Wm Robinson's term of office expired in 1898, he returned to England, and the Director of Public Works (Mr Cooper) was transferred to Ceylon in 1897. General Black administered the Government from February to November 1898, and a new Director of Public Works (the Hon: R.D. Ormsby) arrived in the Colony on the 20th