MEMORIAL PROJECT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 December 1938, Page 7

MEMORIAL PROJECT

GATES AT THE SOLWAY SHOWGROUNDS

DECISION OF MASTERTON COUNTY COUNCIL.

CO-OPERATION WITH A. & P. ASSOCIATION.

A decision to co-operate with the Masterton A. andP; Association in the erection of gates at'/,the /High Street entrance to Solway as a local centennial memorial, - was reached at yesterday’s meeting..of the Masterton County Council.

The council also decided to offer no objection to the Masterton Borough Council, as suggested by the Mayor, Mr T. Jordan, planting trees at the entrances to the town. If the amount raised for the erection of the memorial gates is in excess of the amount required the surplus is to be used for the tree planting scheme. The chairman, Mr R. E. Gordon Lee, said that as it had been decided’ that there was to be no district centennial memorial, the question now was whether there was to be any local memorial. It had been suggested by the president of the Masterton A. and P. Association, Councillor P. R. Welch, that the council should co-operate with the association in the erection of memorial gates at the High Street entrance to the Showgrounds. The Wairarapa was purely an agricultural and pastoral district and the Showgrounds were used by the majority of the residents. The gates would be seen by passers-by and would add to the beauty of the Showgrounds. Councillor G. Moore said he was more in favour of the suggestion of the Mayor that frees be planted at the entrance to the town.

Councillor Welch supported the proposal to erect gates at the Showgrounds. Councillor H. H. Mawley said he was definitely opposed to memorial gates and favoured the planting of trees, provided they were planted in. the right way. Even now Masterton could be made one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand. He fully appreciated the menace of overhead wires to any tree-planting schemes. Councillor J. W. Colquhoun said he was very much in favour of the memorial gates. The Showgrounds belonged to the people of Masterton. It was a worth-while suggestion. A motion, moved by the chairman, that the council co-operate with the A. and P. Association in the erection of centennial memorial gates at the Showgrounds, was carried by 4 votes to 3. The voting was: For, Mr Lee, Councillors Welch, Colquhoun and J. Donald; Against, Councillors Mawley, Armstrong and Moore.