XN000022-1973-03-19 — Page 4

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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..........