CITY OBSERVATORY

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 303, 18 September 1936, Page 9

CITY OBSERVATORY

Erection Under Carter Bequest PRELIMINARY STEPS Preliminary steps toward utilising the funds provided by the Carter bequest for the provision of an observatory in Wellington have been taken. Under the chairmanship of the Minister of Education, Hon. P. Fraser, a conference was held recently to discuss the subject, there being present representatives of the Royal Society, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Internal Affairs Department, and the Wellington City Council. The conference decided that a committee representative of the foregoing bodies should be appointed to formulate a scheme for the provision of an observatory. The city council last night appointed -as its representatives the chairman of the observatory committee, Cr. M. T Luckle, and the town clerk, Mr. E. P. Norman. It also decided to ask the Minister of Education to arrange, in addition to the representatives of the above-named bodies, for the appointment on the committee of one representative from the astronomical section of the Wellington Philosophical Society and one representative from the New Zealand Astronomical Society. Cr. Luckie said the opposition of the trustees of the bequest to the expenditure of the money on the observatory had now practically passed. The bequest was made by Mr. Carter in 1896 for an observatory in Wellington. The fund had been accumulating for 40 years, and was now £12,000. A very satisfactory arrangement had been come to, and there was no more suitable site than that of the present observatory. The committee to be set up would consider plans and specifications.