$17,000 Interest On Town Hall Funds

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31730, 13 July 1968, Page 14

$17,000 Interest On Town Hall Funds

Nearly $17,000 in interest was added to Town Hall Promotion funds in the last year. Investments now total $331,306 and to this will be added promises and a Golden Kiwi lottery grant, together amounting to $54,000 which will be paid when the contract is let.

Sir James Hay, the president of Town Hall Promotion, says in his annual report that all this is gratifying, as the year had not had major activity. The interest rate of about 5 per cent is also highly satisfactory, as most securities are short term because an early start on the building was expected.

The Pan-Pacific Arts Festival again abundantly demonstrated the need for an adequate auditorium. “It is almost ludicrous to expect continued use of the King Edward Barracks as a ‘festival hall’ for such occasions as the Sydney Symphony Orchestra concerts or the Shirley Bassey performances," Sir James Hay says. He sympathises with the festival organisers, who feel the next festival must await completion of the town hall. As a major cultural centre, Christchurch deserves a town hall, he says. Many unexpected additional uses would make citizens wonder how they ever managed without one.

However, Sir James Hay says, the Loans Board deferment of approval for the town hall loan was an acute disappointment, particularly because most citizens confidently expected a start on the project in a few months. Sir James Hay says he hopes that the Loans Board will be persuaded to reconsider its decision. This would enable the City Council to take advantage of a highly favourable climate for calling tenders, stimulate the building industry and economic life of the whole community, assist employment, and save ratepayers a considerable sum of money.

Sir James Hay expressed appreciation of the efforts of the town hall committee, the architects, and others who have been pushing the project ahead in the last year and of the gift of $20,000 by Mr and Mrs Jack Ferrier for a town hall fountain.