CAPTAIN COOK STATUE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19815, 31 December 1929, Page 11

CAPTAIN COOK STATUE.

TO IHZ ZDITOB OF THE PBESS. Sir,—l see that the model for the * Captain Cook statue by Mr Clapperton lag st last arrived from England. I hope that the public will shortly be allowed to view it. I gather that the final decision as to the design is to be made by Mr Barnett and Mr Archer. As the itatae will stand in Victoria square, a public reserve, in the. centre of the (Sty, and will be a monument whereby strangers will judge the standard of jfawte of the citizens of Christchurch, trould it not be advisable for that decision to be made by a small advisory board of leading architects or artists, or both? We are told that unless- "a very great difference" exists between the English model and that of the local competitor, the design of the latter will be accepted. But surely a committee of experts would be better fitted to measure that difference. It must be remembered that Mr Clapperton, whose »odel has just arrived from England, is one of its leading sculptors, and in the interests of the public of Christchurch, en whose reserve the statue will stand, I feel that no comparison should be made between his and the local work without expert opinion.—Tours, etc., A CITIZEN OF CHBISTCHUBCH. ■ December 30th. 1929.