Takaka Marble For Embassy In Tokyo

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32073, 22 August 1969, Page 22

Takaka Marble For Embassy In Tokyo

(New Zealand Press Association)

NELSON, August 21.

Fifteen tons of Takaka marble will be used on the exterior of the New Zealand Embassy in Tokyo.

Hewn from a narrow vein on the Takaka Hill the nearlywhite marble is being carved into slabs in Brightwater and then cut to size and polished in Christchurch. The marble l is due to leave Lyttelton and ; Wellington toward the end of this month and to arrive in Tokyo early in October. The managing director of W. L. Lawry, Ltd, Mr R. C. Lawry, said his Brightwaterbased firm had won the subcontract to supply the stone to the Canterbury Stone Company, Ltd. One thousand square feet

of inch-thick marble was required for the exterior walls of the Tokyo Embassy and 3000 square feet of 2in-thick marble was needed for the entrance steps. This marble was cut into 4ft by 3ft slabs and sent on edge in special crates to Christchurch. There it was being cut to size and polished by the Canterbury Stone Company, which won the contract to supply the stonework for the embassy. The marble is the same as that used in the Massey Memorial in Wellington.