A MOVING STONE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 105, 30 October 1931, Page 8

A MOVING STONE

ITS CHEQUERED HISTORY

The foundation stone of'the Government Insurance Building about to be demolished has had a somewhat chequered career. It has already, been laid twice, and when the new building goes up it will have a third resting place. : , i . It swas. first laid by Sir William Fitzherbert in 1872, when- the Provincial Council Building on Customhouse quay was begun. This wooden building was subsequently acquired by the Government Insurance Department, and was demolished nine years later to make room for the present brick building, which in its turn is to be demolished. The foundation stone of the Provincial Council building was made to serve for the subsequent brick building, and now, with the customary mementoes ,in a sealed copper urn, it is being preserved to serve for the new building of the future. The stone is a plain and uninscribed block of Oamaru atone. The contents of the copper urn consist of the following coins: One sovereign, 1871; one halfsovereign, 1863; one gold 2%-dollar piece, 1855; one crown, : 1845; one half-crown, 1846; one florin, 1870; "one shilling, 18687 one sixpence, 1866; one fourpenee, 1855; one threepence, 1871; one penny, 1868; one halfpenny, 1861; one farthing, 1864. In the urn also are the following newspapers: "Wellington Independent," two copies of 29th- January, 1872; "Evening Post," issues of 4th, 11th, 16th, 17th, and 27th January, 1872;. and one copy of the "Christian Messenger," Ist January, 1872.