PROJECT APPROVED

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 151, 23 March 1938, Page 6

PROJECT APPROVED

Memorial To Pioneers On Mount Stewart ESTIMATED COST OF £3OOO Dominion Special Service. Marton, March 22. General approval of the project to erect a memorial to the pioneers on the crest of Mount Stewart was expressed by delegates attending a meeting of local body ropfeseiitatives at Marton yesterday. Though it was pointed out that many of the delegates had no authority to commit the bodies they represented, a motion was passed siipporting the scheme and appointing a general committee. Mr. J. Linklater was appointed provisional chairman and Mr. W. J. Ctouchcr provisional secretary-organiser, The chairman, Mr. J. H. Perrett, Manawatu County Council, said the Government would''subsidise jhe fuuds raised by £1 for each £3.' The district extended as far as the Waimarino county. The provisional committee already set Up had decided that the memorial would be erected on the exact trig-station site at Mount Stewqrt. To that end two acres of ground would have to be acquired to deviate the HalCombe Road. The site had been ploughed, levelled and laid down iu grass. . . Mr. T. Collins, mayor of Feilding, and representative of the provisional committee on the centennial committee, said tlie cost of the proposed memorial was £3OOO. It bad also been suggested that dll the money be paid into one pool. The sum to be raised under the present suggestions would be £2225. Mr. H. V. Bond, engineer of the Manawatu County Council, explained some of the tentative proposals. The area was of about five acres, he said. One suggested memorial was fairly plain, 42ft. high, and constructed of reinforced Concrete, to be earthquake-resisting. The site was 442 ft. above sea-level, and was exactly halfway between Wellington and the northern boundary of the Wellington province. The cost of the memorial would be £2OOO, and the extra £lOOO would be required for the shifting of the Ilaleombe Road and developing the lay-out of the ground. The memorial would be hollow, with a spiral stairway inside leading to an lift, square look-out on top. . It had also been suggested that an airways beacon light be placed oii the top. Thus the structure would be a memorial, a trig-station and an aviation beacon.