Carry on a general tourist business on behalf of the State. Provide and maintain facilities, conveniences and services for tourists. Promote and facilitate tourist traffic. The 1934 Act established the Bureau as an agency in its own right, reporting annually to parliament through a Minister, but did not make it part of the Public Service. The Bureau continued to operate the "Lakes" Guest-houses and a network of branches in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie in Tasmania and Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane on the mainland. It opened several more branches to provide booking services and ticket sales over the summer months and closing for the winter. The Perth branch opened on 29 October 1935 and operated every summer until 1940. A summer branch operated in Newcastle in 1935/6 and 1936/7 and in Ballarat in 1939/40. The Chief Secretary's portfolio underwent considerable re-arrangement in the 1930's and it is probable that the responsibility for the Defacement of Property Act 1898 was transferred to the Bureau at this time. The Act deals with signs and hoardings adjacent to roads and in sites of natural beauty. The Guest Houses Registration Act, which became law on 13 December 1937, was incorporated with the Tourist Bureau Act. The Bureau provided administrative support to the Board established by the Act and maintained the Register. Only registered guest houses could be recommended and dealt with by the Bureau. Further legislation in 1945 provided for a committee, comprising the Director of the Tourist Bureau and two others nominated by the Minister, to assess applications for assistance by tourism operators. The Minister could lend money, or guarantee bank loans, principally for the development of hotels and guest-houses. With the decline in tourism at the onset of World War II the Bureau closed all but its Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne and Sydney offices. They did not re-open until the post-war boom began in 1946.