Wizard to be rendered in miniature

Press, 27 April 1984, Page 5

Wizard to be rendered in miniature

Christchurch’s Wizard will soon meet the fate of all great works of art. He will be mass-produced and miniaturised. The latest addition to the city’s souvenir trade is a porcelain doll about 250 mm tall which is not only bearded and garbed like the Wizard but, to complete the characterisation, has one arm raised in his now familiar hectoring style. A prototype was unveiled at yesterday’s meeting of the Canterbury Promotion Council by the council’s executive officer, Mr Bruce Dunstan. He described it as a quality item but said that it had not been costed yet and that it would be some weeks before it was available in the shops. Victoria Square The Associate Town Clerk, Mr Keith McNeil, addressed the meeting on

the future development of Victoria Square, which he said would not be closed off until at least April next year. He said that there had been “much talk about the interest the Sheraton Hotel Corporation had shown in the site” but that the Christchurch City Council had not yet committed itself to any proposal. However, preference would be given to an international hotel chain — and at least three had shown interest — because of the spin-off advantages for the Town Hall as an entertainment and conference venue, Mr McNeil said. Festival The meeting resolved that all those associated with the organisation of the 1984 Christchurch Festival be congratulated ott 1 - their

achievement, and that metropolitan and local bodies be urged to increase their support so that the event might be held again, in 1986. 4

The acting chairman, Mr R. W. Skjellerup, said that the festival was “a necessary part, every two years, of the Christchurch scene” and that it should continue.