Community Centre War Memorials Discussed At Length By Mr Parry At Meeting In Whakatane

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 29, 12 March 1948, Page 5

Community Centre War Memorials Discussed At Length By Mr Parry At Meeting In Whakatane

Mr Parry, who arrived just before the meeting, spent Tuesday night here and went on to Rotorua on Wednesday. He had spent Monday at Tauranga, where he said he had heard a similar proposition to the one advanced by the Whakatane Borough. He was welcomed by the Mayor, Mr B. S. Barry and the County Council Chairman, Mr J. L. Burnett.

Discussing the proposition of community centres as war memorials in general terms, Mr Parry said the farming communities in particular were taking advantage of the opportunity to get something they had never had before. Much had been said about the difficulty of keeping young people on the land, and that difficulty was understandable when one considered the attraction of the town for youth in comparison with the lack of such facilities in the back country areas. Utility Memorials

He thought everyone would agree the nation should go in for memorials of utility value to the nation. He did not want that interpreted as an aspersion on art. Far from it. But he felt a utility memorial such as he was suggesting would take a part in encouraging youth of the future to develop and appreciate the rights for which the youth of this generation had fought. Closing The Gap

The line between the elders and the youth of the nation was becoming wider and the gap needed to be closed. This parting of the ways was a tendency brought about in part by the machine age and the development of modern entertainment to the point where home-made amusements in the family circle were becoming more rare, so that the elders lacked that link to bind them to the youngsters.

The Mass Mind A danger in the evolution of the machine age was the tendency it had to develop a mass mind, absorbing and submerging individuality. If that trend were not checked it could rob us of all that was decent in society. He did not advocate the breaking of the but •he did advocate the control of it, •.so that it could be used by man to save him from drudgery, but not to take control of him and use him.

Keen On Club Idea Getting down to particularities on the community centre idea, Mr Parry said he had no desire to interfere with existing organisations. He proclaimed himself a keen advocate of the club idea, but the community centre scheme, he pointed out, aimed at a rallying point for youth to piix with their elders, who •could share and enjoy their activities. His reply to the criticism that a community centre would not he sufficiently dignified for a. war memorial Mr Parry said had always been that nothing could be more dignified than an institution aimed at feeding the souls and minds of the people arid assisting them to lead a fuller life for the spirtiual, physical and moral development of the nation. Farming Centres’ Needs He was suggesting in farming centres, the Minister went on, that the first need was a place of assembly, preferably a theatre with the comfort and inspiration the old type of barn-like hall so often lacked. Land on which it was built should be large enough to allow for future expansion and he hoped it would become a matter of public policy to assist community centres to expand. Concerning the Borough, he understood the Council’s views and realised a building was out of the • question just now, but he thought the time was ripe for definite planning .of a complete centre. No Lack Of Enthusiasm Mr Barry, in reply, assured the Minister there was no lack of enthusiasm in the County and the Borough so far as raising money for a memorial was concerned, but residents felt they should have some freedom as to the type of memorial • they chose, and their ideas did no run altogether on the same lines as the Minister’s.

An undertaking to give full consideration to the Whakatane Borough Council’s proposition for the payment of a subsidy on the gradual development of a community centre war memorial scheme with the provision of. up-to-date recreation grounds coming first on the programme was given by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon. W. E. Parry, at a conference with the Council and representatives of other interested bodies at Whakatane on Tuesdav afternoon. He assured Countv communities of assistance with schemes that tally with the ideas he expressed in addressing the meeting.

The scheme that had found most support in the Borough had been for the expansion of the town recreational facilities into a war memorial park. Admitted, that scheme could be brought into line with the Community Centre idea with a building incorporated. Heavy Costs To Meet

However, the County communities felt they wanted their own memorials, which was only right, but that would mean that very heavy costs would fall on the Borough if it had to provide a building of the sandard needed for the purpose and maintain it. Moreover, it was felt the recreation ground would be an unsuitable site for such a building. It had been said by the Minister himself that to go ahead with a building immediately would be out of the question.

Mr Barry therefore asked, if the Borough adopted a plan for recreation grounds and a building, would a subsidy be available for the grounds first, before the building was started? He personally agreed with the Minister that a memorial should be a living, useable one, and believed a big body of public opinion also supported that view.

County’s Viewpoint Mainly on account of the size of the County and its division into communities, said Mr J. L. Burnett, County chairman, the idea of a combined County and Borough memorial would not be practicable. The County would like to see memorials established in each of the communities, some of which had already started collecting money towards that end. In general, the projects afoot would' tally fairly closely with Mr Parry’s ideas, but he wanted to know if a subsidy would be available for land purchase.

Minister’s Assurances Mr Parry said he could not help there unless the land was State land. He assured Mr Burnett, however, that the buildings would be permanently controlled by the County Council and assured the local committees of help if they got in touch with him when these organisations got started. He was pleased to hear from Mr Burnett that the County committees had got so far ahead, and the schemes outlined were exactly what he had himself recommended for country communities.

“¥/orth Considering” Regarding the Borough scheme, Mr Parry said the Government might be able to help with getting the ground ready. The question was one worth considering, and he would see that it was considered. It was true that building right now was out of the question on account of shortages of material and labour as well as the demand for housing. He forsaw no great difficulty in connection with the scheme in general if it incorporated a full centre ultimately. ’ In reply to the suggestion that a building on the Domain might be too far from the centre of the town to serve its purpose fully, Mr Parry said he forsaw considerable expansion here and did not consider the distance great in a town of the size this one no doubt would be fairly soon.

In thanking Mr Parry, the Mayor again stressed the gradual development of the scheme with the recreation area first, and said he trusted there would soon be further information available on the result of the Minister’s consideration of the proposition from that point of view.