The Dominion MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1926. COMBINING OUR WAR MEMORIALS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 67, 13 December 1926, Page 8

The Dominion MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1926. COMBINING OUR WAR MEMORIALS

o Mr. Hurst Seager’s report to the Government on the question of a site for the Wellington War Memorial has developed into something very much bigger, and, we think, better, than was anticipated. The site originally chosen for the memorial in front of Parliament Buildings was in some respects a good one. The public had grown accustomed to assembling at the spot on Armistice Day, there is- a wide space for the gathering of a large body of citizens on ceremonial occasions, and perhaps most attractive of all the free offer of the site assisted to eliminate a possible cause of further disputation and delay as to where the memorial should be placed. The objections raised by Mr. Hurst Seager to the site are not very convincing. They might have been raised in respect of almost any site in the heart of the city. But there cannot be any doubt that even though he may have strained somewhat to discount the merit of the site in front of Parliament Buildings he has suggested an alternative which with its accompanying scheme for a combined group of memorial and other buildings is most attractive. The scheme as outlined and described in our issue of Saturday last is an impressive one and makes an appeal to the imagination which was lacking in the more limited proposal. For years the inadequacy of our National Museum buildings has been recognised without action being taken to remedy the danger ever present from fire to the valuable collections which the old wooden structure contains.

In the same way the desirableness of expanding our Art Gallery into a national institution worthy of the capital city has been admitted without any material progress being made towards the desired goal. The idea of combining the Museum and Art Gallery in one suitable building has been discussed, and the Government has gone so far as to offer a £1 for £1 subsidy to assist those interested in art who have been striving for a National Art Gallery, But it has been a slow business, lacking the driving force of a popular appeal. Our local War Memorial scheme made slow' and halting progress, but it has at last reached a definite stage of accomplishment. The design has been approved: the money required to complete the work collected. The country’s National Memorial has got no further than the stage of placing a vote for £ 100,000 on the Estimates and then allowing it to lapse '

Mr. Hurst Seager, in his investigation of the question of a site for the Wellington War Memorial has evolved a scheme which will embrace all the important undertakings referred to above. On the Mount Cook site, at present disfigured by the brick building erected as a prison but used for many years by the Defence Department, he would group the buildings necessary for the Museum and Art Gallery and as a National War Memorial a Hall of Memories crowned by the Carillon subscribed for by citizens, a.nd on the sloping front, facing the whole, would place the Wellington War' Memorial. It is a magnificent conception. The site is sufficiently commanding to arrest attention from practically all parts of the city, and the grounds are spacious enough to accommodate the proposed buildings and memorials, and at the same time leave room for a large assemblage of the public on ceremonial occasions. It is true that at present portions of the neighbouring locality are disfigured with a poor class of building and detract from the appearance of the approaches to the site, but this is merely a temporary blot which time will efface.

To those who have fretted under the delays which have already taken place the objection to the scheme that immediately presents itself is the suggestion that it may mean further postponement of the work. There is no reason why it should mean any great delay. The Acting-Prime Minister (Mr. Downie Stewart), in his reference to the matter, indicated that the Government would have to reconsider the financial aspect of the scheme in its bearing on the State. This, of course, will be necessary, but what is sought does not increase the commitments of the Government beyond the matter of the site. The Government, under certain conditions, has already pledged itself in respect of the remaining expenditure and there is no immediate prospect of a call being made on it in regard to this.