"SIGN OF THE TAKAHE"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 50, 1 March 1937, Page 16

"SIGN OF THE TAKAHE"

The Government is interested in taking over the mortgages on the "Sign of the Takahe," the tearooms on the Cashmere Hills, Chris-church, and the seven and ' a half acres of reserve about it and in developing the area as a principal tourist attraction (states the "Press"). The Tourist and Publicity Department has requested Mr. J. A. Thomson, supervisor of the.interior work at the Takahe, to prepare a report on the cost that would be involved if the State assumed control, and he is also required to furnish suggestions for the improvement of the revenue of the .building. , Mr. Thomson stated, on Thursday that the Prime Minister '(the Rt.'.Hon: M. J. Savage), during his visit, last' weekend, assured him that, the Government would take over the ' Takahe. Since Mr. Savage's yisitho.hadreceived the Department's request for'-.information about the cost* involved in" taking over the building," and' he would prepare a report immediately. .Actually, - the cost involved would be only, .approximately £4500. For this price the. Government could procure for the country a national asset worth between £30,000 and £40,000. .This expenditure would include the purchase of .the seven and a half acres of reserve. At the outside it would .take two "years to complete the "Sign of the Takahe," Mr. .Thomson said, but it-was > likely that" it would 'be done' in 'eighteen months.- As a tourist attraction its value.was already but* its revenue-producing' possibilities could be far more fully exploited:

Unchanged' since Anglo-Saxon days, except-for.the dropping of'a superfluous "d," the- word wed ■ can even yet be found in some volumes in its original meaning. In its usual meaning,' however, it can scarcely be said to have changed. For it is, the AngloSaxon wedd, a pledge.