SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16427, 22 January 1919, Page 6

SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL.

THE DUAL SCHEME MODIFIED

MEMORIAL HALL ABANDONED. A meeting of tho Building Committee of the Hot timed Soldiers' Memorial Hall Fund was held Inst evening, Mr 0. T. J. Alpers presiding over a full attendance.

Mr Alpors reported that lie had interv.ewed a considerable number of well-known citizens with regard to subscriptions to the rotuniod soldiers' movement i'or a now club and a hall of memories. He had not met a single person who had not promised to give «» subscription, but on tile other iiand, ho had not received a promise of any Utuinite amount. Most of those he had canvassed had expressed tneir wisn to sue now matters went Ijeiore committing ihemseivcs 10 a spavined sum. Omy on,.- iiad s.iO\vu any uoimu' oppoaiuuu to the scheme, Utner canvassers reported having met witH arguments vei> nntcn im.« came as tnoso Mr -Vipers ..ad encountered. Colonel U. j. £>1111111 expressed the opinion that the money for tne soldiers Ciub would bo easily raised, but tn.il tlie puonc desired something laiger m tlie way of a memorial tuan u;e. suggested naii or memories. As a mauci ei lact, tue pubiic appeared to lavour somctiung of a muro jiational diameter. Air M. J. Ures&on said tnat, with regard to tile memorial, lie thought tlie Mayor should call a public• nievting — witn the support of Canterbury behind it—to cousider the best scheme lor a memorial, l'orsonally, iie approved entirely of a Soldiers' Club ajio Memorial ilall, but lie thought tiiat the scheme for tho latter .it least should be put forward in a more modmed form. The public, he uddoJ, might, and probably wouldj desire a bigger memorial on a bigger site than those at present suggested.

ALit E. Nordou gave a very gratifying report .is to the result of his canvassing. Mr Aipoi'H said that, in his opinion, tin? memorial that was decided upon should be first of all symbolic, and secondly not utilitarian. He himself was rather apprehensive of what a citizens' mooting might decide upon. Such meetings sometimes exhibited some most appalling ideas. Mr Vordon suggested that th e scheme for the Soldiers' Club ltrrght be gone on with —that wns an absolute necessity, and in addition the site had been bought—but the question of tho memorial might be left to the citizens. Sucii a course, he thought, might prove the better policy. Mr Grossoii pointed ont that, in his opinion, Canterbury's desire was not to deprecate the Soldiers' Memorial Hall scheme, but to advocate n inoro elaborate scfiemo on a bigger site. Mr Nordon remarked that there should bo no refusal whatever on tho part of the public to assist the scheme for the Soldiers' Club. It would he nothing short of scandalous if any object, that would be so infinitesimal a thing for the returned men as to provide a rallying point for returned soldiers, were not supported. However, if the club and memorial hall schemes were made separate, all the objections that were now being raised would be done away with. Tho general opinion of the meeting appeared to bo that tho building of a new club was a necessity, but that there was also a nocessitv for some modification of the dual scheme. A considerable discussion took place with regard to the citizens' attitude towards a memorial, the general opinion being that a more extensive scheme than that proposed by the Returned Soldiers' Association was desired. Several of those present advocated that the club scheme should be gone on with, but that the memorial scheme should be left more to the desires of tho public, and that if a mooting were called by tho Mayor OH the subject, tho Returned Soldiers' Association would support the public's scheme if it were symbolical of those who had fallen.Mr Henry Berry soundod a warning note, and said that if the club and memorial schemes were to be separated, care must be taken that the committee should not fall between two stools as far as the allocation of the two funds was concerned. Mr F. C. Raphael said that a hurried decision should not bo arrived at, but that full reports of all canvassers might be waited for before any definite arrangement was arrived at. Mr Gresson said that if the suggested memorial were put aside, in favour of a larger public memorial, it should be made clear that the soldiers' scheme had not been abandoned, but that the Returned Soldiers' Association would, as it were, father the larger scheme. Mr Frank Thompson suggested that, instead of a public meeting, the Mayor should call together a meeting of representatives from local and other bodies, at least aB a preliminary. There was considerable further discussion, in which the general opinion appeared to bo that the money would not be forthcoming for the memorial hall, and there was also another lengthy discussion as to the amount that the public should be asked for in respect of the Returned Soldiers' Club campaign, and practically alt the members advocated that as low an amount as possible should be asked for, and eventually, on the motion of Mr Berry, it wa-s decided to approach the public for £8000. Mr N. B. McCallum, president of the Returned Soldiers' Association, emphatically stated the Association's eager desire to see the scheme gone on with. Eventually, the whole position Was summarised in tho following motion, which was carried t— "This meeting, realises that the people of Canterbury desire to erect a Peace Memorial on a larger and more ambitious scale than the Hall of Memories asked for by the Returned Soldiers' Association; that there is considerable diversity of opinion as to the form a peace memorial Bhould take. In the hopo of securing unanimity as to the form of the Peace Memorial, this meeting therefore resolves to proceed with the appeal for a soldiers' club only, and to ask the public for a sum of £8000 for this purpose alone." It was further decided: "That the Mayor be requested _ to call a meeting of representative citizens, settlers, and public bodies throughout Canterbury to formulate a scheme for a Peace Memorial for submission, if desirable, to a public meeting at a later date. The Returned Soldiers' Association pledges itself by its representatives on this committee, to give its cordial support to such larger scheme, provided the citizens decide to give the Peace Memorial a form symbolic of the services the soldiers have rendered in the war, and commemorative of the names of ths fallen." It was decided that the whole committee should immediately get to work and collect funds for the erection of the club. THE WAR MEMORIAL. TO THE EDITOR OT ''TUB TRESS." gj rj —Having read and listened to much discussion on this question, a few ideas begin to take shape in the mind of the casual observer. It is evident that a vast sum of money is going to -be spent on war memorials throughout the country, if it is forthcoming. A suggestion from somewhere above, that Government will subsidise local effort has at once set utilitarian and enterprising minds to work, in the direction of. killing, isro

' birds with on© stono, and town halls, etc., aro visualised in every township. Such things are very well in their wnv, and would be good to liavo when circumstances permit, but I hope they will not bo allowed to divert Christchurch, at any rate, from perpetuating the memory of the deeds ami sacrifices of the war by a beautiful and inspiring monument oroetod 011 the very best site in the city. Now, to my mind, though there may bo several positions suitable for statue's of dend politicians, etc., there is one which stands out, above and before all others for such a purpose as the presont one. and that is tno centre of Cathedral square. I need not labour the point, it loaves 110 room for argument. AVhv. then, lias not tho matter been decided and done with it ? Because, and only because, we liavo allowed this historic oiece of ground to be defaced and disfigured by an abomination known as the tram shelter, the need for which in that position was created by an unimaginative tram system, which insisted on making the centre of the Square a trannrav exchange, whereas, if nil trams inwards and outwards, stopped at price's and Broadway's, instead of in the middle of the Square, the need for the shelter would never have arisen. If these are sound promises, and if the citizens of Christchurch have nny soul above shelters and conveniences, let them prove it by making Cathedral square what it was once, and was intended to be, a place of beauty iuid dignity, with a plot of hallowed around as a centre piece, whoreon should lx> a monument comparable with that of Ne'<on in Trafalgar square If. however, the ntiiitie*- cannot bo 'fierift-"ed to tho sublime submit to Mr Hurst. Seacer the quest hm. whether it, is not possible +0 conceive a memorial of such size and beauty as to be able to conceal witb<n and beneath its scope i">th a tram shelter and a ventilator? — Yours, etc.. 0. Christchurch, January 21st-, 191 P.