GREYMOUTH TOWN CLOCK
BOROUGH COUNCIL'S DISCUSSION.
Th e future of the Town Clock was the subject of a brief discussion when the matter came before the Greymouth Borough Council at its meeting last evening. The Mayor (Mr- F. A. Kitchingham) said that the Chief Postmaster (Mr M. R. Aldridge) and the Public Works Engineer (Mr E. F. Evans) had seen the Borough Engineer (Mr A. J. Fairmaid) and himself regarding the removal of the clock, and there was little to add to what had appeared in the newspaper reports. It had been pointed out that in Nelson and in one other place strenuous efforts had been made to retain the clock tower but the department would not give way .at all. Cr J. B. Kent said he did not think there was much that could be done about it at the moment.
The Mayor said that according to the information received by the Town Clerk there must be from the roof of the clock room a clear fall down of 60 to 70 feet. The dials were a little over six feet in diameter. He thought they should ask the postal authorities to provide some 'sort of clock for the convenience of the public. It would be an advantage to have a two-faced clock over Tainui Street.
Ci’ J. Saunders said he thought the time was opportune to put the suggestion to public-spirited people that they might do something to see that the town would not be deprived of the clock. There were business houses in the town which had been in existence since 1865, and there was an opportunity for them to show their public spirit either by giving assistance or granting a piece of land on which the clock could be erected. They shoul dnot wait till the tower was taken down and they had to store the clock. It was part of everyone’s life fei the business part of the town. « Cr P. Blanchfield said that he was not convinced that the people of the town were going to put their hands into their pockets to provide another place for the clock. They had put in £3OO before ■ and now it had been cut from under their feet. Cr Kent suggested something in the nature of a civic square. The Mayor said that there was no other town in New' Zealand which was so short of open spaces at Greymouth and that was because the town was built in the wrong place. He thought that till the time came to erect the clock the only thing to do was store it. He mentioned that the time weights weighed two cwt. and the chimes four cwt., with a lighter one, the hour bell, weighing three cwt.
Remarking that he was not prepared to make a concrete suggestion at the moment, Cr F. F. Boustridge moved that it be left to the Town Planning Committee to bring down a report. This was seconded by Cr G. M. Truman, who said that he thought the clock should be erected at a convenin' time as soon as possible. Cr H. Herring said that when the war was over there would probably be an agitation for a utility memorial—he thought there would be no more useless memorials —and perhaps a clock tower might be embodied in it Cr Boustridge said that it might he a good thing to erect it in a residential area, perhaps in High St. It could be made an ornament to the tow'n and residents would still get the benefit of its chimes. The motion referring the matter to the Town Planning Committee was then put .and carried, and on the moiton of the Mayor and Cr Saunders it was decided to ask the postal authorities to provide a clock outside the building.
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Bibliographic details
Grey River Argus, 17 December 1943, Page 3
Word Count
635GREYMOUTH TOWN CLOCK Grey River Argus, 17 December 1943, Page 3
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