The War Memorial Hall

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 22, 11 June 1952, Page 6

The War Memorial Hall

# Public Meeting Endorses Original Plan There was a very good response to the invitation of -the Taupo Town Board to those interested to attend the public meeting on Friday evening last for the purpose of discussirig the R.S.A. War Memorial Hall and Club Rooms. Assembled in Rickit's Hall at the op&ning of the proceedings were over 60 people, and this number was swelled by later arrivals.

Mr ,J. Story, presided, and announced that no motions would be aecepted until everyone who desired to express opinions on the matter in hand faad exercised their privilege to do so. The routine of the proceedings would be that the case for the R.S.A. would be presented by its president, Colonel J. D. Swan, and for tRe Town Board by Mr K. E. Young. Following these speakers others who had views to express would be heard. Colonel J D. Swan, speaking as president of the R.S.A., reviewed the facts and gave an account of his body's stewardship of the fund. In September, 1949, he recalled, the R.S.A. opened a building fund account at the Post Office. In Mar'ch, 1948, Mrs McCauley, on behalf of the McCauley Estate, donated sections to the R.S.A. to be used in conjunction with the building fund. In June, 1949, diseussions took place on ways and means to raise money for a hall, and a treasurer was appointed for Memorial Hall donations. i ' i V . } ' The Queen Carnival In July, 1949, continued the speaker, a Queen Carnival was discussed md meeting called of all who might he interested. In September, 1949, \ public meeting was held and about i0 were present. Three queen candidates were noniinated — Residents, Rusinesses, and Maori — and a carnival committee was set* up with, chairman, Mr Fulljames; secretary, Mr Patchett; treasurer, Mr Armstrong; , and two members from each queen's j committee. On October 15, 1949, 1 the carnival committee met and finalised the details for the carnival, fixect the closing date as January 28, 1950 and the crowning for January 50. It was further agreed to ask the Minister of Internal Affairs for permission to run an alluvial gold art unicn. On November 28, 1949, continued the speaker, the carnival committee met and decided to write to the , Minister of Internal Affairs asking' that the art union be held over for oue year pending the results of the ! queen carnival. The carnival was a | great success and resulted in the j Madris winning the contest. The j iponies paid in by the queen com- ; mittee were as follows: —

The R.S.A., he added, paid all the expenses of the Central Carnival Committee, amounting to £21/10/-, out of their own general fund. Apart from the queen carnival monies the R.S.A. had their own building and property fund. £211 cash, two sections, 1 billiard table and 1 piano. All the aforementioned monies together with all expenses had to go through R.S.A. accounts, and as their financial year did not end till 31st March, 1950, tbey could not be audited until after that date. The Government Subsidy I3p to this time the R.S.A. were

i uncler the impression they could get £1 for £1 subsidy. On May 24, 1950! they reeeived terms and conditions of the Governmcnt Subsidy for War Memorials, and vesting in Local Bodies. The secretary was instructed to apply for specimen plans from the Governmcnt Committee mentionecl, and that representatives from the | queen committees be invited to atj tend the next meeting of the R.S.A. On July 12 at a meeting with the i queen carnival representatives, the ! chairman gave a full report regarding the hall, subsidies and vesting. The meeting reeommended that legal advice be obtained on the term "vesti ed in local authority," and also ' reeommended that several sketch ! plans of halls be obtained from architects. On July 27 the annual general meeting of the R.S.A. was held, I when audited accounts and balance sheet which included the queen carnival w~ere reeeived and approved. At I a meeting on September 4 it was re- ' solved that a deputation of three should meet the town board and ask if they would be prepared to apply for a subsidy up to the amount of cash in hand and the secretary obtain a written valuation of the two sections so that these could also be included.

Building Plans Discussed Continuing, the speaker said that a meeting in October 25, Mr HUI, acting-chairman of the town board, and councillor Story were present, when plans of the hall were discussed and various alterations suggested and agreed uflon. A committee of five was set up, consisting of the town clerk, Mr Price, a member of the town board, and three members of the R.S.A. with building knowledge, to finalise on the material to he used in the building. Further, a deposit of £100 be paid on the flo.oring for the hall. At a meeting on December 19, it was reported that the Internal Affairs Dept. had advised that the closing date for receipt of plans to* qualify for subsidy was December 30. It was resolved that the funds be vested in the town board and they be asked to forward to Wellington details and plans immediqtely, and also submit an approximate estimated cost of £12,000 until the final costing survey was reeeived from the architect in Auckland. The R.S.A committee in the meantime undertook to give an assurance that the vesting of the Memorial Hall in the town board would be confirmed at an extraordinary general meeting called for January, 15, 1951. The financial r»ofiition at this time was as follows:

The next event, continued the speaker, was an extraordinary general meeting on January 15, when the chairman and two other members remarked on the small attendance at such an important meeting — only 20 being present — and asked that this be recorded in the minutes. The chairman advised that the donors of the sections were opposed to vesting

these in the town board. The meeting resolved, by 13 votes to 7, that all monies for the memorial hall, with the exception of the sections, be vested in the town board. On February 12, a costing survey was reeeived with an estimate of £12,500. This was forwarded to the town board. Assets handed to town board and available for subsidy were as follows : —

The differenee of £259 5s 9d, explained the speaker, was made up of inter.est and all cash in R.S.A. building fund.. Into Another Year At a meeting on February 12,1952, ; the R.S.A. hall sub-committee reported1 to the exeeutive the progress ' made with regard to tenders for the Memorial Hall and it was moved as follows:— 1. — That the committee considers ' that the tender reeeived is out of all proportion to the architect's cost- ; ing survey. j 2.-^-That the tenders should be called again and given wider cireulation j and also given more details of the ' building.

3. — That failing a sjatisfactory tend- ' er being obtained that the public be 1 given an opportunity to express I their desires either by poll or public meeting. Finally, concluded the speaker, at a meeting of the R.S.A. held on May 28 to discuss the present public meeting it was resolved that the building should be pr'oceeded with as originally planned. The Town Board's Case. On behalf of the town board, Mr K. E. Young, instanced the factors which had eontributed to the delays i expressed. From the date of the R.S.A. 's request to proceed with the project, a period of 8 months elapsed before the negotiations for the Government subsidy were officially final- ' ised by the Pepartment of Internal » Affairs. Tenders had been called in j the Auckland, Wellington, Rotorua and Napier papers. The only re- j sponse was a tendier at £15,500. Towards this they had available, with the Government subsidy, roughly £9000. The pcsition then faced had three angles of approach: They could proceed by raising a loan for the balance; they could cut down the building plan; tljey could hand * the j miney back to the R.S.A., to do the best they could wiljh the resources j available, less the subsidy. Costs had been rising, and further delays might I rpean a higher total cost for the pro- 1 ject. If plans were finalised these would have to be approved by the Minister. Tliat would be one cause of delay. ?? Mr Young- aBo pointed out that Under the buikjing prcject as planned : and to be financed by the Government i subsidy, no part cf the premises | could be reserved for the exculsive ! use of the R.S.A. Borrowing would j involve further delays, and the loan j mooted was not favourable in any | case. * • i \ Yoice frotn Tokaanu. - . j ■ At this stage the chairman read a telegram reeeived from Mr Aifred Grace, of Tokaanu, secretary of the Trust Board and Timber Corporation, to the following effect: — "The R.S.A. Memorial Building Taupo please advise public meeting tonight regret representatives of Tokaanu end unable be present, but we feel project should be gone on with without further delay, with funds available plus Government Subsidy. Building ean be added to

latter if necessary. Mr Arthur Grape can speak for us. Appeal to Public Spirit. Mr ftalph Ward suhmitted, as offering a lead to those present, .that the wisest plan would be to go athead with the building as originally planned, in its entirely. They would appreeiate that the difficulties to be overcome were reai, out these could be overcome. This course of action had the great advantage that it would fulfil the pledges given to the queen carnival organisers and the R.S.A.; also to the community at large. To take the commonsense view, the ratepayers never had such an opportunity of having £9,000 handed to them toward a community hall that would serve for at least 20 years to rome, Further, any extra money that might be r ^sed would be further subsidised. The people of Taupo, he urged, should be publicspirited enough to put their hands in their pockets and carry on the good work. It would be short-sighted

policy to lose the chance. He did not think it necessary to raise a loan at all, and agreed with Mr Young that the loan market was unfavourable. He felt strongly that the necessary amount could be raised by public subscriptions. uLet us show that demqcarcy works,n he urged. As regards the point raised by Mr Young that exclusive rights could be granted the R.S.A., the speaker considered that this difficulty could be met by a spirit of compromise. At a later stage Colonel Swan and Mr Patchett, on behalf of the R.S.A., gave assurances that exclusive rights to certain parts of the building would not be pressed for. Discussion and Motion. There ensued a general discussion, various members of the meeting eorttributing their points of view. Colonel Swan then moved, on behalf of the exeeutive of the R.S.A.: — That as there is already £9,000 iti sight, and that any further money s raised later between now and June 30, 1953 would be eligible for subsidy, we are of the opinion that the original plans for the hall should be carriedL out in their, entireiy. The motion was seconded by Mr G. Patchett, who elaborated / the points already made on behalf of the R.S.A. Motion Carried. Some confusion occurred about this stage over an amendment moved by Miss J. Branson, seconded by Mrs T. Price, that the building should be erected with the funds now at their disposal. Mr Fulljames raised a point of order, contending that the amendment constituted a direct negative. After a brief exchange of arguments the original motion was put and carried by a l'arge majoirty. Considerations of time and space make it impossible to record the sentiments expressed by all the speakers during the meeting. Suffice it to say that the ground was trodden over and retrodden many thnes. Among those who also spoke were Mrs K. E. Young, Mrs T. Price, Messrs A. Grace, P. Silva, A. H. Reid, W. Morris, McAuley, M. Attwood and C. J. Vedder. Some of the points made were of inteiest, and were fair comment, but did not affect the final result. Miss Branson, for example, depreciated saddling the Town Board, already heavily burdened with works obligations of various kinds, with additional responsi'bility. She also expressed some concern about the possibility of the consumption of "orange juice,, in the R.S.A. Clubrooms, but was asured there need be no apprehensions on that score the law was definite in its prohibitive legislation. The chaiman mentioned that tentative offers to build at prices ranging from £14,009 odd to £11,000, had been reeeived. This announcement lent force to the advocacy of an allout effort to raise the balance of the money and nublicity in support in the Taupo Times columns. The proceding ended on that note, with a vote of thanks to those concerned with the promotion of the discussion and the arrangements for the meeting.

Maori ...... £2174 8 2 Residents £1430 6 9 Business £697 6 8 Total | £4302 1 7 Plus net profit from 'Crowning Ceremony £22 6 0 £4324 7 7 • Less Dress Allowance to Queens £30 0 0 - £4294 7 7

Cash ...... £4460 17 9 1 Two Sections Valued £600 0 0 i Deposit on Timber £100 0 0 Cost of Plans, Etc. £75 0 0 £5235 17 9 And it had been hoped to raise the balance per medium of Ait Union, Etc £764 2 3 £6000 0 0 And thus qualifying for a subsidy of ...... £6000 0 0 Making a Total of , .. £12000 0 0

Cash £4460 17 9 Deposit on Timber £100 0 0 Cost of Plan & Survey £75 0 0 £4635, 17 9

\ As against money raised by queen carnival: — ' Queens £4302 1 7 Less Dress Allow ance £30 0 C £4272 1 7 Profit on Crowning £22 6 0 Memorial Plaque Fund £82 4 5 £4375 12 0 '■