THE JUBILEE MEMORIAL

Press, Issue LVII, 4 December 1900, Page 5

THE JUBILEE MEMORIAL

TO THE EDITOR OF THE IB.ESS. Sir,—Probably 1 ought- to commence with an apology for troubling you with a letter on a subject in which so little interest is taken, and 1 ought then to ask your readers' indulgence fo. inilicting un them _ somewhat prosaic account of the proceedings of n certain committer. Thasc things have been duly reported in your columns, but for the-benefit "of those who have omitted to pro-tit by the opportunity thus offered I will recapitulate a.s shortly as may !>e.

Some month's ago a committee was set up to consider and ultimately carry out- a project fur erecting a permanent memorial of the Jubilee of this province. This committee did mc the honour to. elect mc its chairman. To be quite frank, I had batter at once admit that I accepted the compliment with no misgivings respecting the pitfalls in front of mc. The committee consisted of over lOC .gentlemen, of whom some 30 or 40 attended our opening meeting, and we very soon had a choice of over twenty memorials, each of which could reckon on ut least one vote. An adjournment was decided upon for further suggestions (heaven save ths; murk !), arid you kindly opened your columns for tho purpose. Ths result was about 130 more suggestions. Several tlflngs were now evident, one being; that there were not enough votes to go round, so' tliat each su_rv<__t-iun might. g-_t one; and another being that ik> single suggestion would have a chance of feeing carried if pitted against the other 149. Ultimately my committee baliotted. and thfl six suggestions gaining most votes were referred t" '"••* general meeting for selection. A general meeting of tlie Jubilee Com_n_ attended by two or three hundred jwxst. another ballot took place, and the prese. proposal is the outcome.

next duty of my committee was to organist, tha collection of funds for tho permanent memorial, and us ie was felt that- it waa inadvisable to liave two committee!" with rival collecting-boxes, it was decided that all the collecting for the Jubilee purptwes should be done by tlie Memorial Committee, and that the cost of ths celebration should be a- iiret churge on the amounts collected, the balance to go to the memorial. I am now fiist approaching the point of my narrative. We havo received under £500 up to date, and another sub-committee (the Celebration Committee) have put in a claim for the whole of this for tlieir own purposes! Tha Old Colonists' Committee will ratnir. Something from us, and possibly we may liave other claims, but at present we have not sufficient funds for tha aetuul celebration.

Surely this is an occasion for a little liberulitv. We livo in prosperous times; we are all of us proud of our province and «>l her fifty years' record; we have amongst us those who have helped to make that record what it is. It has been objected that the proposed memorial does npt commend itself to all; in fact, one gentleman, with an outspoken fraiiknew one crumbt but admire, declined to subscrib* "to any graven imago the commit-too might lmppen to set up.' Of course, everyone is entitled to hi.. own opiniou, and in this case the description of the statue of the Ouceii. though unusual, is no doubt technically correct.

I dealt tit some length with the methods adopted in the .selection, chiefly to explain the care that hits been exercised to </ive effect to the wishes of the greatest number, and I now ask those who have, seen their special project passed over to remember La Fontaine's fable about the impossibility ot pleasing everyone. Let- them set aside" all minor differences and loyally assist as Canterbury settlers should. .bearing in mind, too, that we are still without sufficient funds for tbe celebrations themselves.

But I would go still further, and claim that the proposed design is one which should commend itself to all. We- are about to celebrate the fii-st half-eeritmy of'the history of our province, and'it seems specially appropriate that the .sta-tue of our liolovi'd Qtueii, who has ruled our Empire throughout that period, should surmount our memorial. The symbolical tablets of the Pioneers, etc., are fitting emblems of .the basis on which our province is.buill— They luid our State's foundation stonea, And laid th.m deep and ...... And who shall gainsay the.right of thos. of Canterbury's sons who have fallen in this: Jubilee year in our Empire's cause to thoir share in tho memorial? It has been suggested to mc that if the memorial was ready in time it might be possible to get the Duke of York to unveil it. I am afraid this is out of the question, but we might be tibia to ask him to lay the foundation stone. But if we are to have a memorial at all, let it be worthy of Canterbury and of the occasion. Let us employ the best artists, and do it with no niggardlj hand. For this we must, liave money, am if everyone who has benefited by the" worl of tlie Canterbury pilgrims will lend a bane a small subscription will suffice. We hay. started a shilling fund, mainly for school children, but half-crowns, and even guineas will not be refused. There should be no need of canvassing I would gladly attend in Cathedral squa.ii with a hat if "your readers would come mv fill it, but as my office, 123 Cashel .tree (near th. Fanners' Co-operative), is mon convenient for mc, and probably equally s. to them, perhaps they will send their mibseriptkms there, or to the secretary, Mr E. J. Righton, Y.M.CA. Buildings, Cambridge Terrace. —Yours, etc., H. F. WIGRAM.