MEMORIAL CARILLON

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 286, 30 August 1935, Page 2

MEMORIAL CARILLON

Mount Cook, the Best Site

The opinion that the War Memorial Carillon is in the best spot that could be found in the city, and that the completion of the buildings on Mount Cook would provide numerous corners where the bells could be heard at their best, was expressed by Mr. R. F. A. Housman, M.l.Mech.E., general manager for Gillett and Johnston, bell founders and clock makers, of Croydon, England, who is at present visiting New Zealand.

Mr. Housman said that when conditions were ideal for the carriage of sound the bells could be made expressive and very tuneful, but where they were affected by the roar of a city the mechanical player could be used to give more volume, and be suggested partial mechanical playing in Wellington to increase the range of the bells. In addition, he said, if a striking clock mechanism were added to strike the hours on the five-ton bell it would be heard far and wide, and would be a regular memorial. It might not be heard in busy streets, but the sound would float above the city and would fall Into quiet places. “While a carillon should preferably be placed in the centre of a large and quiet open space, .there is no reason why the music of the bells should not gi”e entire satisfaction in a position sucL as that of the Wellington Memorial Towe,,’’ said Mr. Housman. “The site on Mount Cook is obviously the best In the city, but at present, with the ground and buildings unfinished, there are no suitable points from which the bells can be heard without the interference of traffic noises. “The positions now available immediately at the base of the tower are unsuitable, as It is essential for listeners to be at a greater distance. It will be found that when the terraces and the new buildings behind the tower are completed, several quiet and suitable positions will be discovered, especially as at some points the actual buildings become a substitute for the necessary distance by deflecting the sound; I proved this when listening to Miss Watkins’s recitals here, and from these points her full four octave carillon music gave me the same pleasure as when I heard it in Hyde Park,”