PEACE CELEBRATIONS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 174, 17 April 1919, Page 2

PEACE CELEBRATIONS

FURTHER ARRANGEMENTS i DISCUSSED

CITY COUNCIL GRANT OF £1000:

Councillor W. 11. I , - Barber occupied the chair at a meeting oi' Uie C'lizon;,' I'cace Celebration Committee, held in.the \velliugton Chamber of Commerce .yesterday. There were about thirty ladies nud gentlemen present. ... ~,,-,, After tiie minutes were read, Colonel O. F. C. C'am'])bell said that tite same i-omli-tions applied to a march past as to a military tournament, winch .Major Andrews ilid nut think was likely to be ar'councillor 1!. A. Wright, M.J'., in referring to the catering on the Monday, moved that the matter of catering for the public (by way of refreshments) bo abandoned, on the ground that it would be imposiblo to get sufficient, volunteers to manage the work. Councillor Uarber reported that he had put tlie matter of. finance before the Finance Committee of the City Councilhe was afraid with disappointing results. The Mayor considered tnat «£foh) would ba, enough, but he had pointed out that the amount was quite inadequate compared with what the other cities were spending. Christchurch was spending .£2OOO, lie knew. Alter a discussion.the committee'had decided to allocate MVM for the celebrations, out of which the .6350 had to conic for. flic tiivworks (already spent). This amount, ho considered' altogether inadequate. - Mr. E. J. ltighton proposed that they should ask for at least J3OU.

On the (suggestion of Councillor U. Frost it was decided thai the committee should wait upon Uio City Council this niorjiing, and: point out that the affair.was a very important (me, and it w;is imperative that tin! council should spend a little more money on (he celebrations.

On tho motion of 'Mr- B. Iveesing, sceoitded by ill , . J. H. llelliwell, it was decided' that Messrs. Ji. J. Kighton, K. W. Shallcrarts, AV. Siiuni, J. Luwis, and B. Keesing make an ■ estimate of .tlio probable expenses ot' the celebrations, i\hd wait upon the City Council this morning ivitn a,request lor'further consideration.

t. Councillor K. A. Wright, M.P., said that the Harbour Boiiord had earmarked ,1:300 for an arch, but as others were ri.ot going to construct' ar'dits, ihe board was not proceeding with its idea. Perhaps the committee could annex that amount. The same committee, as nientifllied above, is' to wail, upon tho board in connection trith the slim mentioned. ' ■ •

Colonel G. 1 ,, . C. 'Campbell reported that in tlio absence of the Actiujj-L'rimo Minister he, with Mr. AVright. M.I J ., had waited on the lion. G. M': fiussell, and had asked him whether the members of the Government wished to take..any part in tlio peace celebrations in the way of niakitig but the Minister had no intormution on the print, as Cabinet had not considered tile matter. The Minister was quite indefinite on the point— he -could giv* them m> ini'orm;ttion. He could not even say when the celebrations would be.held. Somo held that they would bo held after the iirst. news came through,, but others held that the celebrations.would not beheld' until the final peace was signed some time hence. Tho Home Government hadbeen eomihuniuated with on the point, biit so far they had received no word. The Minister had mentioned that the Government would probably illuminate and decorate, the Government buildings. Mr. D. M'Kehzie wished to know what was required by the-Boy Scouts. He iiad heard thut they were to be employed in firing the boulires at night. : if. that were so, they could dismiss the idea at once. The boys would not be on the hilltops when the crowds were in town. He 'thought that' the' Boy Scouts should have been properly waited upon. If they wanted the Boy Scouts, tliey should be asked in a proper mangier, ' Colollol Campbell eaid tjmt lie was sure 110 discourtesy had. been intended to tlio Scouts, nor had any discourtesy been offered, and M 1 , ., M'lvenzie was unreasonable to think that such , was. the case. 1

'Mr.. J. Lewis explained that 'the 'meet* ings were- preseut one was only the second—and notices had been sent : to.. Mr. M'Konzio and the Senior Scoutmaster.'to attend the .meeting. H had been mentioned that Hie Boy' Scouts might like to hiive something to do with the bonfires, as it was a tiling boys usually gloried in, but nothing definite had been' arranged. The chairman said that it was proposed that .the-bonfires were , to be lighted on the Tuesday iiiglrt. 'when there was nothing on i;i town, save the display of fireworks in Oriental Bay, which the boys w6uld be able to see just as well from the lulls us anywhere ,clse. Wliilt precisely the 'Scouts -Vero to <]6 during the celebrations wa«- left to the Procession Committee to determine. ' Miss. Trevethick (Civil-Service Girls' Choir) said that she was Hot tibia to" wiv what the choir would or would not do' A meeting had been-called, but as tlio notices were, late in. getting round there had not been a largo atlndanco. ■ .'Aparade would be called after tlio holidays, and the choir's part in tho. celebrations discussed. .

Mr C. D Macintosh, president of (he Aew Zealand Veterans'. Association, mentioned that body, and went on to enuv merate .the campaigns its members had fought in. The chairman'snid that full provision (and motor-cars arranged)-was beimr, made for tho veterans by tho Procession Committee, of which Mr. C D Macintosh was a member.