POSITION EXPLAINED

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 33, 7 August 1936, Page 8

POSITION EXPLAINED

On inquiries being made regarding the above letter it was ascertained that the position is as follows:—

1. In 1919-20 and in 1920-21 Parliament twice placed on the Estimates a vote of £100,000 for the erection of a National War Memorial.

'2. A national committee, representative of the whole Dominion, and a committee of senior officers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force both recommended unanimously that the National War Memorial be erected in, Wellington, and these recommendations were approved by Parliament.

3. In 1921-22 Parliament placed a vote of £100 upon the Estimates to keep the proposal alive. '

4. When the Wellington Citizens' War Memorial Committee could not see its way to accept; the offer of the Wellington War Memorial Carillon Society for the inclusion of the bells in the Wellington citizens' War, Memorial the society offered the carillon to the Government for inclusion in the National War Memorial, together with the.National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum on the Mt. Cook site. The Government decided, on account of straitened finances, to provide £15,000 for the erection of a skeleton tower only to house the, bells.

5. The scheme for the erection of the National War Memorial Tower and Hall of Memories, the National Art Gallery, and the Dominion Museum on the Mt. Cook site was then finalised on the undertaking by the Government to subsidise £ for £ up to £100,000 a corresponding sum subscribed by the citizens of Wellington, for the erection of the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum. This was the proposal placed before the citizens of Wellington, who duly subscribed the amount required.

6. The National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum were never intended in any way to be a.War Memorial, but only to form a background" to the National War Memorial Carillon Tower and Hair of Memories to be erected, by the Government.

7. Competitive designs on this basis were then called for, and the winning design shows the Hall of Memories which was to be erected at the base of the tower.

8. The bells being already !in Wellington, the Board of Trustees decided to proceed with the erection of the lower forthwith, and, in order that.it would not look unsightly;.- agreed to! advance the necessary amount to complete the external,finish and the i approaching steps, etc. The contract price for the tower, finished externally, was £ 19,000, md for. the construction of the steps and approaches £4000, .; ■•• ,-i 9. The erection of the Hall of Memories was left until some more suitable date when-the Government's finances were not so strained. ; ~ • 10. The foundation-stone of the National War Memorial Tower was laid by the then Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. .Forbes, on May 15, 1931, and bears the following inscription:— • Rep Wairua . To the Glory of God. To the memory of the New Zealanders that»died in the. Great War, 1914 to •■:"-. i .■-.-.■ ■■;' 1918. -;,;■:■"' ■ ■•■ And in honour of those that served or suffered this stone was laid by the Right Honourable G. W. Forbes, P.C., M.P., Prime.Minister of New Zealand, .On May 15, 1931. 11. The carillon and tower were dedicated on Anzac Day, April.2s, 1932, and the opening recitals were given by Mr. Clifford Ball, England's leading carillonist. Prior to the dedication ceremony the carillon was presented as a gift to the nation by the Wellington War Memorial Carillon Society, and, being accepted as such by i the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, on behalf of the people of New Zealand, thus became national property, and, correctly speaking, therefore, the National War Memorial Carillon (and no longer the Wellington War Memorial Carillon) ' and part of the National War Memorial, the of whichl was laid to the memory of all the New Zealanders that died and those that served or suffered in the Great War. -.'..-. '

12. A number of the bells were subscribed for on a national basis, ; five of the larger bells being dedicated to the New Zealand Division, the Anzacs, the New. Zealand Mounted Rifles, the Royal Navy and the British Mercantile Marine, while no less than six others were donated by actual N.Z.E.F. units.

13. By Act of Parliament during the present session the bells have now been taken over by • the Board of Trustees. ■ ■

14. The second stage in the carrying out of the scheme, as originally launched, has now been completed by the opening of the National Art Gallery and the Dominion Museum.

15. The third stage, the erection of the Hall of Memories, remains to be completed. , _

The following interesting references to the position appear in the second edition of the War Memorial Carillon Society's souvenir book which was issued last week. . ■

."The third stage in the erection of the national group of buildings on the Mount Cook site yet remains to be achieved—the building of the National Hall of Memories at the base of the National War Memorial Tower. This was part of the original scheme when it was launched, and provision for its inclusion is shown in the side elevations of the winning design. It was not proceeded with, however, owing to lack of finance.

"In a letter to the Board-of Trustees, the architects, Messrs. Gummer and Ford, of Auckland, point out that the original design contemplated the Hall of Memories as being a small but beau-tifully-finished chapel to which the room at the base of the Carillon Tower itself formed an ante-chamber. They had in mind that the whole of the anteroom and chapel would be lined with marble and have rich metal grilles, etc.. at the openings. It was intended that there should be something in the nature of an altar or shrine in the apse at the end of the hall, and that thesmall recesses at the side should be side chapels with marble tables hold-

ing vellum books containing the names of all the New Zealanders who gave their lives in the Great War, following, in this respect, the example of the famous Scottish National War Memorial.

"The architects estimate that to complete the structural work only of the Hall of Memories would cost approximately £6500. The cost of the completion of the interior is difficult to state as it depends entirely upon the quality of the ricmiess given to it. In view of its importance as the National War Memorial the architects consider that nut less thah £15,000 should be spent on marble lining, grilles, vellum books, etc. They emphasise that the non-completion of the Hall of Memories leaves the National War Memorial Tower unbalanced and without real power, and that in external appearance the tower is obviously incomplete as seen from the Dominion Museum and National Art GaHery. "New Zealand has not even yet a Roll of Honour to her sons who fell so gallantly fighting on her behalf." ,