£1000 ASSURED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20122, 16 December 1939, Page 11

£IOOO ASSURED

CENTENNIAL GRANT CAPTAIN COOK’S VISIT BIG NATIONAL FEATURE DISCUSSION ON WAIKANAE An announcement that £IOOO would be granted by the Government as a contribution to the cost of staging the re-enactment of Captain Cook’s landing at Poverty Bay, in October next, was contained in a letter received by the Provincial Centennial Council, at a meeting held yesterday. The grant is to be made in recognition of the national character of the pageant which the district committees are organising, for the anniversary of the date of Cook’s first visit to the New Zealand coast. The meeting expressed its keen appreciation of the interest shown by the Government in the undertaking. The Mayor, Mr. D. W. Coleman, M.P., presided over a good attendance of members, including Mesdames W. A, McCliskie and R. U. Burke, representatives of the Poverty Bay Women’s Central Representation Committee. Among the issues raised at the meeting was one advanced by the Gisborne Thirty Thousand Club, which suggested that the provision of a Hollywood Bowl should be made the principal permanent centennial memorial at the Waikanae Beach, in preference to the memorial gates which were previously approved. Strong Divergence in Views The arguments in favour of the j change were put forward by Mr. J. jChrisp, who pointed out that the funds available might be better invested in facilities for entertainment, which would also provide some revenue for financing future improvements. Subsidies on unemployed labour would be a big asset in carrying out the Hollywood Bowl project, said Mr. Chrisp. Mr. T. Todd submitted a report from a combined meeting of the bodies interested in development at Waikanae, the report stating that two projects had been suggested for the outlay of the funds now available. The building of the central tower and one wing of the new bathing pavilion was one of these projects, and the Hollywood Bowl was the other. Mr. Todd commented that the Hollywood Bowl was favoured by some on the grounds that it was part of Mr. W. J. Mawson’s plan, but he felt that the bowl proposal was not in the Mawson plan, if it were to be placed in the position favoured by its supporters. Mr. Todd strongly objected to the destruction of existing amenities by any proposal which would not be in strict accordance with the Mawson plan.

Neither Proposal Acceptable

Neither the bathing pavilion instalment nor the Hollywood Bowl scheme appealed to Mr. J. A. Nicol, who also objected to doing away with existing amenities. The amount available was not sufficient to do either work completely, and he thought that any centennial memorial decided on should be completed. He criticised the action of the Thirty Thousand Club in opening up this question without some definite proposals. A sum of £7OO, such as they had in hand, would go nowhere with either the bathing pavilion or the bowl. Mr. Nicol added that the Waikanae Beach Improvement Society was now expecting data from Wellington on a scheme which he thought might appeal to the council, and to the cost of which his society might be prepared to contribute.

The Mayor suggested that in view of the differences of opinion now developing, and the lack of details of any of the various schemes, the decision might be held over meantime. Mr. J. H. Hall expressed'satisfaction with the evidence that the memorial gates project seemed to have been dropped. He favoured the Hollywood Bowl project, in connection with which Scheme 13 labour might ibe available. There would be comparatively little cost to figure on apart from the labour. Entertainment facilities at the beach, he said, were urgently necessary, and the bowl project would fill that need. Special Meeting: to be Held

Mr. Coleman remarked that he favoured a bowl, but he wanted to see the money or the means to complete it, before any decision was made, i The trouble at this stage was that no estimates had been prepared for any |of the schemes. Colonel R. F. Gambrill said the gates had been adopted simply because the National Centennial Council had appeared to favour them. He personally agreed that they were unnecessary, but he pointed out that when they were adopted, there was no immediate prospect of war. Since the outbreak, the prospects of the council had altered greatly, and it was a case of cutting the suit according to the cloth. On Colonel Gambrill’s motion, it was decided to hold a special meeting of

all concerned at the beach, to discuss the rival projects from all angles. The Thirty Thousand Club forwarded a request that the council recommend that subsidy from the national centennial fund be available on sums in excess of the sum of £SOO originally fixed for that project. The meeting agreed to the request, on the understanding that the Thirty Thousand Club would continue its efforts to raise public moneys for the Centennial Drive.

The general secretary of the National Centennial Council, Mr. A. W. Mulligan, wrote stating that the matter of making a special grant to meet the cost, of the national portion of the East Coast council’s programme had been considered by the Government, and he was pleased to inform the council that a sum of £1001) would be made available for that purpose. This information was received with much satisfaction by the council, and the secretary was instructed to forward an expression of thanks for the liberal grant.