ERA OF MONUMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20995, 23 December 1939, Page 22 (Supplement)

ERA OF MONUMENTS

WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF? THE EXAMPLE OF CHEOPS! I The chairman of the Hutt Couhty Council, Mr S. Blackley, on taking his at the monthly meeting i of the council last Friday, explainjed that he had received an invitation! to attend the laying of the foundation stone of the new Government blojck of buildings in Stout Street at j 3 o’clock that afternoon. | “ The present will be known an

New Zealand as the era of monuments,” said Mr Blackley, “ and I must say that 1 am not in favour of the erection of all the costly buildings which the Government has been putting up lately. I think the money could be spent much more beneficially for the people of the country. Neither do I agree that time should be spent in laying foundation stones. However, that is a matter for the powers that be. Personally, w r e have too much important business to transact here to allow me to attend the ceremony.

“ Some 5000 years ago,” Mr Blackkey continued in reflective moods, “a man named Cheops built a huge monument to himself. It is said that the building of this monument affected the economic condition of that country for two reigns, and was as disastrous in its effect as a major war,”