SCOTT STATUE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25248, 29 July 1947, Page 6

SCOTT STATUE

COMMISSIONED BY COMMITTEE

FUNDS RAISED IN CHRISTCHURCH

The statue on the reserve on the bank of the Avon river, near the Worcester street bridge, of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, R.N., who died with five companions when returning from the South Pole in 1912, was not commissioned by the New Zealand Government, as was reported in a cablegram published yesterday reporting the death of the sculptor, Lady Kennet, the widow of the Antarctic explorer. The sculpture was commissioned by a committee in Christchurch, which raised funds for a national memorial. The only Government connexion with the memorial was that the then Prime Minister (Mr W. F. Massey) was president of the fund.

The commission fee paid for the statue to Lady Scott was £lOOO. The base, pedestal, and figure, weighing 42 tons, were shipped 1 free of charge from London by two shipping companies. The cost of erectihg the statue was £136. The fund was raised by local bodies contributing £268 and private subscribers, including 58 schools, raising £732 17s. From the fund was also paid £B2, through the Lord Mayor of London, to the widow and mother of Petty Officer Edgar Evans, the first of the party to die. Captain L. E. G. Oates (“a very gallant Englishman”) walked out into a blizzard to die when lie believed that his inability to go any farther would prevent his companions reaching a food depot. Dr. A. E. Wilson and Lieutenant H. R. Bowers died in the tent with Scott.

The first meeting to raise funds for a national memorial was held in Christchurch in February, 1913, and it was not till four years later that the memorial was unveiled. Every member of the committee has since died. The chairman was the Mayor (Mr H. H. Holland), and Mr C. H. Gilby was secretary. Committee members were Messrs H. F. (later Sir Henry) Wigram, G. Witty, M.P., G. Laurenson, M.P., H. G. Ell, M.P., Hugo Friedlander and J. J. Kinsey (later Sir Joseph) Kinsey, the Rt. Rev. (later Archbishop) Julius, Dr. Charles Chilton, and Colonel Snow.

"A statue of this size carved out of one block of exquisite marble with such a granite base and bronze lettering is not provided for £lOOO in England during a war.” wrote Lady Scott to the committee in 1916. “I volunteered to provide such a monument for this sum. I have done so—that is my affair.” Now that the sculptor has died, the statue, which measures 13ft 6in. high, will probably remain for ever in an unfinished state. She was expected to revisit New Zealand after the 191418 war, when she was to “touch up the hand of the figure,” which, according to the records, was “purposely left as it is for strengthening purposes during the transit and erection of the memorial.” According to the photograph of the original cast made b- the sculptor, the piece of granite behind one leg was also to have been removed.

At the time the statue was erected, the City Council chambers were in the building now occupied by the Canterbury Chamber of. Commerce. The City Council readily granted permission for the statue to be erected on the reserve.