§ Major KELLEYasked the Secretary for Mines whether his Department proposes to maintain its separate offices in Victoria Street; and whether economies are being made in the working of the Department and in the collection of mining statistics?
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§ Mr. BRIDGEMANI should be the first to welcome any possibility of the Mines Department being housed at the headquarters of the Board of Trade instead of in the building that it now shares with three other Departments; but in these matters I am in the hands of my Noble Friend the First Commissioner of Works. The answer to the last part of the question is in the affirmative; the cost of the services borne by the Mines Department is now only 25 per cent. of the cost two years ago, and economies are still being made.