AUCKLAND'S MEMORIAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 33, 9 February 1939, Page 10

AUCKLAND'S MEMORIAL.

The sittings of the committee appointed by the Auckland City Council to report upon the suggestions for the local Centennial memorial have quickened interest, and have brought realisation to the public that it is high timo that the objective was decided upon and its post definitely ascertained. The proponents of the two suggestions which have found most followers—the Waitakere Park and the Arts Centre—have both held meetings in the last day or two in support of their proposals. The two plans arc upon entirely different bnses. In the ease of the park a reliable estimate of the total cost, £30,000, has been made, a cost which is well within the city's capacity to pay, while practical support is already forthcoming in offers of finance and of land within the boundaries of the proposed area. No such offers have yet been announced for the Arts Centre, while the advocates of the plan have not offered any suggestion of its probable cost. A figure of £200,000 has been suggested as a minimum, and it seems probable thnt that amount would be exceeded. Those who support this plan should supply a reliable estimate of its cost, so that the merits of the two plans may reasonably be contrasted. It is now or never with the park; unless the land be acquired in the very near future it will not be available, for continued encroachment on the bush areas will make purchase for national purposes too costly an undertaking , .