LATE MR. SAVAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 31, 5 August 1941, Page 8

LATE MR. SAVAGE

MEMORIAL PARK

BASTION POINT CEREMONY

PLANTING OF TREES

A feature of Arbor Day celebrations in Auckland tomorrow will be , the planting by citizens of an instalment of several hundred trees at the burial place at Bastion Point of New Zealand's first Labour Prime Minister, Mr. Savage. With this planting will commence the work of constructing a memorial park and garden of remembrance in which is to be erected a monument to Mr. Savage, the design for which was chosen from a number of entries in a public competition.

The Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr. Parry), who leaves for Auckland tonight to represent the Government at the tree planting ceremony, will be attended "by the Mayor of Auckland (Mr. J. A. C. Allum), the past Mayor (Sir Ernest Davis), representatives of the Legislative Council and of the House of Representatives, the New Zealand Labour Party, other bodies, and mapy friends and admirers of the late Mr. Savage. COST OF MEMORIAL. The cost of the memorial to be erected is to be borne by the New Zealand- Labour Party and the final planting will be carried out by the council's staff at the expense of the Government. The site, comprising about 18 acres, is to be dedicated as a public domain and placed under the control, of the council as a domain board. The council will be financially responsible for the upkeep of the property, with the exception of the monument, which the Government will maintain.

Outlining the scheme for the park and garden of remembrance, Mr. J. W. Mawson, town-planning adviser of the Department of Internal Affairs, said a sunken garden of two acres with a pool in the centre and a pergola at each end was to be formed on the inland side of the monument site. Further inland still would be a parking space and a children's playground. The monument would consist of a fluted shaft 4ft in diameter and about 50ft high in artificial stone, surmounted by j a stainless steel brazier. It would stand on a base rising about 12ft above the level of the garden, and a level terrace around the shaft would provide a fine view of the Waitemata Harbour.