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Monday, March 19, 1973
NEW AND LARGER PREMISES FOR BRITISH PASSPORT SECTION
To Cope With Increased Demand
The Immigration Department's British Passport Section will
be moving at the weekend into new and enlarged premises.
This is another step by the department to provide better
services to the public.
At present the British Passport Section is situated on the
11th floor of International Building.
But because of an increasing demand for passports, the
offices have become inadequate and are generally unsatisfactory.
Consequently the department has acquired additional space on
the 5th floor of the same building and the Section will be moving in
after work on outfitting the new office is completed.
The new office will open for business at 8.45 a.m. on Monday
(March 26). Besides a much larger public waiting area, there will also
be more office and records space for the staff.
Cormenting on the move, a spokesman said the demand for British
passports had been increasing steadily over the years to the extent that
the existing premises no longer provided sufficient space for the proper
public accommodation of passport applicants.
In the first two months of 1973, a total of 5,381 passports
were issued as compared to 3,762 in the same period last year.
"And for the first 17 days of March we have already issued
2,016 passports and received another 3,191 applications."
/In the..........