The Dominion TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1928. THE CITY’S WAR MEMORIAL

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 116, 14 February 1928, Page 8

The Dominion TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1928. THE CITY’S WAR MEMORIAL

The long and interesting report in which, Mr. Hurst Seager sets out his recommendations for a change of site for the Wellington City War Memorial is worthy of very favourable consideration. The points in favour of the Cambridge Terrace site are so attractive that one is led to believe that had a similar proposal been put forward in the beginning, it would have been adopted in preference to the site in the vicinity of Parliament House grounds. The points in favour of the Parliament House site are that the locality in the past has been a converging point for national occasions; its''proximity to Parliament Buildings, the railway terminals, and the wharves, gave it a convenient point of vantage for inspection by visitors to the city. But, Mr. Hurst Seager urges, whatever advantages accrued from this position were off-set by serious defects from the artistic point of view. “The monument is not on any axial line or in relation to either street or building, it could not, therefore, enter into any well-ordered scheme, and its value as a piece of civic decoration would be nil,” he says. “So far from' adding to the beauty of the Parliamentary grounds, it actually spoils what is undoubtedly the finest prospect in the city. However beautiful the work of art may be in itself, appropriate environments tend to increase its artistic value enormously.”

In considering the claims of the Cambridge Terrace site, one must endeavour to . envision that broad thoroughfare as it may possibly appear in the years to come. The alterations which have already been made in. the appearance of the central part of the road have made it possible for a monument to fit into a perfect perspective at one end of a direct line of vision. There is already, at the north end, the Queen’s Statue, and with the space available the whole of the central area might in the future become the City’s Memorial Walk. The War Memorial would stand, moreover, in the geographical centre of the city, and in harmonious proximity to numerous educational buildings and the proposed site of the National Memorial. Here Mr. Hurst Seager makes a sound point.

If a work of art is to have any ennobling effect it would surely be of most value if placed in a position where it can make'its influence felt on young people who are passing through the most impressionable age.

It is quite possible, of course, that such an alteration of plan may not be acceptable to' some. It may be thought, for example, that having carried the scheme to a point where a site and a design have been definitely decided upon and arranged, any change of plan might prejudice the whole scheme, and cause further delay.' There need be no further delay if all concerned wil] take into careful consideration the arguments which have been put forward for the new proposal, and come to a speedy decision. ’ It is time the matter was finally settled—long past the time, in fact—but it would be regrettable if in their desire to bring the original scheme to a speedy consummation, those concerned • failed to appreciate fully the advantages of this latest proposal.