MEMORIAL HALL SITE

Chronicle (Levin), 18 March 1949, Page 4

MEMORIAL HALL SITE

Possibility That Present . Sactien Onsui^iMe That the board which had been set up to investigate and make recommendations on war memorial scherbes had approved of the. Levin scheme but was not satisfied that the section was a. sui.table one to set off a building on which so much money- was. to -be spent, was the information conveyed to members of the Levin RB.A. by the president, Mr. N. M."- Thomson, at the quarterly ge'neral " meeting pn Wednesday pight. • vThe faot thatthere rnight be another alternative| in the triangle :in Cambridge Street, was mentioned by 'M.r.: Thomson as something which couid be discussed" by members that night, and "eventuated in the meeting giving tne executive permission to take the matter up with the Levin Borough Council without committing the association in any way. Should .the council be in favour of making the section availabie, then a special' meeting could be called so that all members could have a say on whether or not the change over should be made. The board's main objections to the present section were tnat it was too close to a residential area, that the ' parking facilities seemed insufficient, and that there was not sufficient room in which to set off a. building of such attraetive design, and on whicn between* £15, '000 and

£20,000 would be spent. j "The obvious reply to that, of ; course, was that the houses had i come -to us," said Mr. Thomson. . There were no dweliings in the locality when the section had been purchased. He could see little wrong with the parking space, and' thought that a trivial matter. In regard to the latter point, he 'did not think the board appreciated the difficulty in Levin of securing a section, particularly a corner sec-i tion, for which the building had! been originally designed, anywhere! near the centre of the town. In fact he was cer'tain no sections could be bought within the town today. Triangle Site The executive had been going to reply to the board along those lines when the suggestion of the triangle had been raised, continued Mr. Thomson. It had to be realised-,.' however, that the coYmcil . (had not discussed the matter and_'obJections might be raised to the suggestion. That was yet to be seen. The disadvantages of the triangle site Were its proximity to the railway line and consequent noise, and the possibility of danger through the nearness of the level crossing. The question which* should be discussed was whether these were enough to outweigh the other adyantages. There was ample room for the building, although the plans would : have to be changed a little, The remainder of. the land would be given -over to beautification. 4 . ( . . During the discussion whiclf fol-

lowed many views were put iorward.- A large number of th'ose present were against the sugges-.. tion, some being of the opinion that the triangle was too close to a church and the gardens, and that an element of danger was brougnt a'bout by the crossing. Others felt that the area was an obvious place to form a bus parking area or car park, which was an urgent necessity in Levin. Others held the view that it was an ideal site and that the noise nuisance by trains would be negligible, and for only a few minutes' duration. In regard' to its use as a parking area, the time was not far distant when the main road would bypass Levin and the bus congestion would be no longer a problem. The matter, however, was not completely discussed by those present ;as it was decided that as the last war veterans had supplied much of the finance for the present .section, they should have the opportunity of having a say, and that the executive should also aseertain the reactiOns of the council to the suggestion.