KAIKOURA WAR MEMORIAL

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27695, 27 June 1955, Page 12

KAIKOURA WAR MEMORIAL

COMMUNITY CENTRE OPENED BUILDING ERECTED AT COST OF £32,000 The Kaikoura war memorial community centre, which has been built at a total cost of £32.000 was opened by the Minister of Railways (Mr J. K. McAlpine) before a large attendance of the public on Friday. The chairman (Cr. H. J. Hewson) presided and among those present were the member of Parliament for the Southern Maori electorate (Mr E. T. Tirikatene), the Mayor of Blenheim (Mr E. P. Meacherj-) and the Rev. Father W. J. Walsh, former chairman of the Queen Carnival Central Committee. Members of the Kaikoura branch of the Returned Services’ Association marched from the west end of the township and formed a guard of honour in front of the memorial centre.

Mr Hewson said that although a memorial had first been mooted in 1945, the action of the then council in 1948 in setting aside £lOOO as the nucleus of a fund and offering £1 for £ 1 subsidy on subscriptions to the fund had been the real inception of the scheme. By 1950 the council had set aside a total of £2500. In 1953 a carnival raised £5310 and donations of £7OO by the trustees of the Kaikoura Brass Band, and of £l5O by the Kaikoura Plunket Society, were received. The council subsidy of £6160 and the Government subsidy on the total amount made nearly £30,000 available. Mr Meachen congratulated the district on building the centre. Mr Tirikatene said he was pleased that the tribal committee had given permission for part of the centre to be built on Maori Cemetery reserve. If symbolised the harmony between Maori and pakeha that did not exist in those early days. Father Walsh, chairman of the Queen Carnival Centre Committee, which had raised over £5300 towards the project paid a tribute to the present county council which had honoured in full the motion of a previous council to subsidise donations on a £1 for £1 subsidy. “Without that the building would not have been here,” said Father Walsh. Mr McAlpine praised the efforts of the community in raising such a large amount of money for such a worthwhile purpose. “It was a marvellous achievement,” he said. Mr McAlpine declared the centre open and it was inspected by those present.

Presentations were made to the clerk of works (Mr W. R. Carson) and the contractor (Mr C. A. W. Scott). The building is adjacent to the county council office on the northeastern part of Takahanga Domain and opposite the “Garden of Memories,” which commemorates the fallen of World War I. The centre, which is built of reinforced concrete, comprises a hall (75 feet by 52 feet), a stage (50 feet by 20 feet), well equipped kitchen and supper room (46 feet by 22 feet), library, Plunket room, waiting room, cloak rooms and showers. The floor space is about 10.000 square feet. The building is painted in deep coral. Inside the main hall the walls are painted in deep coral with pale blue, buff and pale green tonings for the ceiling.