LATE MR HOLLAND

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 74, 9 January 1936, Page 3

LATE MR HOLLAND

SCULPTOR WORKS ON MEMORIAL SYMBOLICAL IN CONCEPTION. * (Special to the “Guardian.”) AUCKLAND, January 8. In his studio at Epsom, tho wellknown Auckland sculptor,. Air R. O. Gross, is at work upon two commissions of considerable public interest. One is the memorial to be placed over the grave of the former leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Mr H. E. Holland, in the Bolton Street Cemetery, Wellington; and tho other is a decorative sculpture for the new gateway to the . Auckland Domain. The Holland memorial is entirely symbolical in conception, and is intended to express the ideals which animated the Labour leader in his lifelong work for liis fellow men. It will consist of three pieces of sculpture in white marble, all rather less than life size, on a rectangular pedestal. There will be a nude figure of a young man, with his face upturned to the sky and holding in one hand flowers and in the other fruits. This figure represents the spiritual aspirations of man, and his rightful enjoyment of “the kindly fruits of the earth.” On either side of the pedestal is to be a group of two crouching fig J ures, a man and a woman, in attitudes expressing tlie material hardships and superstitious fears of primitive mankind. One of the women holds a spindle, and the other a stone quern for grinding corn. One of the men holds a'flint axe mounted in wood, and the other some other object yet to be determined. An inscription, which has already been cut upon a slab of marble, will be placed on the pedestal, and is as follows: “This memorial is dedicated to the memory of Henry Edmund Holland, leader of the Labour Party 1919-33, to commemorate his work for humanity. He devoted his life to free the. world from unhappiness, tyranny and oppression.” In front of the pedestal a space about three feet square will be left for the placing of wreaths. The memorial will be altogether about 12 feet high and ratlier less in width. It was purposely designed on a rather small scale, because the grave is situated on a slope below that of the Rt. Hon. R. J. Setldon, which is surmounted by a tall column bearing a statue. Mr Gross had some delay in procuring the three blocfks of Carrara marble required for the work. Becauso of the war with Abyssinia, the Italian Government had requisitioned nearly all coastal shipping, and some wet ks elapsed before the stono could be delivered at the port of shipment. The two lower groups have been “roughed out,” and the sculptor expects to linisli his task well before tho end of the year.