FATE OF THE GUNS.

Evening Star, Issue 22252, 1 February 1936, Page 14

FATE OF THE GUNS.

The fate of the obsolete guns at present mounted in certain, city reserves and gardens is to bo decided at the meeting of the City Council on Monday night. The Reserves Committee will ask for authority to arrange for their removal at the earliest convenient date. An indication that the committee expects its request to be granted is given in the portion of its report which states that, in the meantime, inquiries are being made as to the best course to follow in the matter of the ultimate disposal of these old-time artillery pieces. Probably there are grounds for the committee’s optimism, because, in the form of previous unofficial rumblings among city councillors, there have been signs that what may be proved to bo a majority of them are opposed to anything savouring of military symbolism. The fact that these particular guns can no longer be regarded as weapons of offence seems to make little difference. In the eyes of, the Reserves Committee, at any rate, there is a principle to be observed. The City Council will have its little disarmament conference, and, if something more than mere limitation is carried, the guns will go. But where wall they go ? That is a question which is apparently exercising the minds of the committee. At the council meeting there will no doubt be one or two who will advocate their disappearance into ocean depths. However, this would be a harsh measure and one that is unnecessary. Perhaps they could be gathered together at the Central Battery, not, of course, for defensive purposes, bub in order that they might spend their declining yearS in the atmosphere for which they were originally constructed, and that they might still be examined by people with a taste for the archaic. Or it is possible that they could he- given to citizens who may wish to establish them as symbols of guardianship over their private flower-beds. Judging from public utterances and from matter that has appeared in print, the sentiment for their removal from the public reserves is stronger than that aimed at their retention. But, if the City Council decides to fall in with the Reserves Committee’s wish, we may yet hear from an opposition camp. In the event of a victory for the committee, the least the council can do is to remember the children who have been wont to -use these relics as playthings. There will be a certain barrenness 'about the reserves and gardens which •the youngsters may not appreciate. Possibly swings and see-saws would fill the gap. However, the matter does not seem to he of sufficient importance to warrant a big policy statement from, say, the Minister of Defence.