DISTRICT MEMORIAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 July 1938, Page 4

DISTRICT MEMORIAL

INTEGRAL PART OF NEW CATHEDRAL CENTENNIAL PROPOSAL. MR T. JORDAN’S ADVOCACY. Although those present at a meeting of the Wellington Provincial Centennial Committee held in Wellington yesterday agreed that the provincial memorial should be an integral part of the new Anglican Cathedral, it was decided' that the matter should be finally disposed of at the next meeting of the committee to be held in August, as one or two members ex- £ pressed the desire, before committing themselves, to have the opportunity of discussing the proposal further. The matter was opened up by Mr T. Jordan (Mayor of Masterton) who expressed his concern about the provincial memorial, as three separate small memorials had been proposed, one on Mount Stewart in the Rangitikei district, one on the beach at Petone to commemorate the original landing in Port Nicholson, and a third on Mount Victoria. Not one of these was really a provincial memorial. “None of them is of outstanding merit,” said Mr Jordan. “On the other hand, a memorial of very distinctive and even national character is being launched by a large section of the people. I refer to the decision of the Anglican community to build a cathedral in Wellington to mark the hundredth anniversary of the foundation of this Dominion. This decision must give us all food for thought. If we decide upon a memorial of our own for this province we shall have two competing projects for the support of the public in the province, a state of affairs to be avoided at almost all costs. What I have in mind is this: Would it be possible for us as a province to adopt the cathedral scheme as our memorial, either as a whole or in part, e.g., to aim at building some special memorial chapel as part of the cathedral? It will, of course, be objected that the cathedral is an Anglican institution and would interest only the Anglican communion. As the movement for this has already taken shape we are able to say that its basis is broader than that. You in Wellington have a large committee representative of all sections and sects designed to make this work a common task. The committee in Masterton has been set up on similar lines and at a meeting held here on Monday last this suggestion of mine was considered and the opinion of members was unanimous that it would be a wonderful achievement for all of us to forget for a while the idiosyncrasies of a bygone age that divide use and to combine to erect this cathedral as a memorial in the capital city and as a symbol of unity amongst fellow citizens irrespective of class or creed. The site selected for the cathedral is a commanding one overlooking the House of State and personally I can think of no provincial memorial comparable to the placing of this outward and’ visible sign of twenty centuries of Christian life in its proper perspective, beside the General Assembly of the people. I commend this suggestion to the earnest consideration of the Provincial Committee.”

The chairman, Mr T. C. A. Hislop, said that the cathedral project had received the support of representatives, of all creeds and sections of the community. At a recent meeting in ■ the Wellington Town Hall speakers in support of the scheme had been the Prime Minister, the Rt’ Hon M. J. Savage, the Hon W. Nash, the Hon Adam Hamilton, the Rt Hon J. G. Coates and the Rev P. J. Wainwright, representing the Ministers’ Association. His Grace, Archbishop O’Shea, and the Rt Hon Sir Michael Myers had written in support of the scheme. The proposal was warmly supported by Mr C. M. Turrell, chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board, by Mr A. E. Mansford, Mayor of Palmerston North, and by all. delegates present. Messrs W. J. Rogers (Mayor of Wanganui) and J. W. Card (Mayor of Featherston) expressed their personal approval of the proposal but desired, before committing their districts to the scheme, to have an opportunity of discussing the matter further.