The Town Hall

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33037, 3 October 1972, Page 14

The Town Hall

Sir, —Having appreciated and enjoyed to the full today’s television presentation of the opening of the new Town Hall, the speeches, and the acknowledgements to all those involved in the creation of this lovely asset to our city, I would like to pay my little tribute to the members of the local staff of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service — technicians who so ably presented it all to friends who could not be present.—Yours, etc., E. M. SIMPSON. September 30, 1972.

Sir, —May 1 congratulate “The Press” on a very fine supplement to mark the occasion of the opening of our long-awaited Town Hall. I read it from cover to cover and found it all extremely interesting. But among all the articles and contributions, the item I noticed with greatest interest was an extract of proceedings at the meeting of the City Council in August, 1955, when, on the recommendation of the Institute of Architects, it was decided to choose the library block site. It seems that Cr J. E. Jones was the only councillor suffi-

ciently far-seeing then to disagree. “I don’t agree with the architects’ recommendation,” he said. “The Limes site is the one and only site where the Town Hall should be. You have an elevation at the Limes site that you won’t get in any other part of Christchurch.” How gratifying it is now to see how his opinion has been so completely vindicated! — Yours, G. D. ROGERS. September 30, 1972. Sir, —No-one would quarrel with the repeal id use of the word “magnificent” for the Town Hall complex, but it is less than magnificent that generations of citizens have been deprived of this facility throughout their lives. Gratitude to the authorities cannot be unalloyed when they have been so late in giving Christchurch what it truly deserves. You say the arrangements were “perfectly devised.” The speeches were fitting and unavoidable, but, when the noisy religious minority admit themselves that less than 3 per cent of people use their own magnificent buildings, they had too big a share of the captive audiences. Yet the highlight was the magnificent singing of the Cathedral boys’ choir, showing up the inherent weakness of the large, voluntary groups, whose enthusiasm far exceeds their voice quality and musicality.—Yours, etc., JIM ABELSON. October 2, 1972.