OLD LANDMARKS

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 46, 24 February 1920, Page 8

OLD LANDMARKS

J. A. BURNETT.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,—ln England there exists a national trust for places of historic interest and national beauty, constituted in 1894 under Joint Stock Companies Acts, for the purchase and preservation of sites and buildings to be held in'perpetuity for the benefit for the people, and a Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings dates back to 1377, and had the support of Sir John Lubbock, uferwards Lord Avebury. The need for a similar society in New Zealand becomes greater every year, if some of our most interesting bits of history are to be preserved for the interest and benefit of future generations. Moreover, in this age of commercial prosperity and change, there is a spirit of destruction abroad that has no value in anything that is not productive of wealth, especially in respect to old buildings: Unless those interested in their preservation take immediate steps to gather funds and obtain power for the Cabinet to act, we shall find New Zealand denuded of all that brings so vividly.before us the early history of. our islands. Let me remind your readers of the wanton destruction of the blookhouses at Wanganui some 30 years ago, despite the protests of the pioneer settlers of the district. With ivy and Virginian creeper as a protection, these buildings far from being unsightly, would have been objects of interest, even bad they reached a brokendown condition. In their place stands a hideous band rotunda that is rarely, if ever, used. So much for one instance of what we have lost. _ Now let us glance at an historical place in jeopardy—l refer to St. John's College, Auckland, the history, of which is so well known to us all, and on which the church authorities have cast destructive eyes. Are we to lose this too? —I am, etc.,

23rd February.