The Centennial

Hutt News, Volume 13, Issue 23, 15 November 1939, Page 2

The Centennial

PETONE MEMORIAL

INSCRIPTION CHOSEN « HISTORICAL PAGEANT The Wellington Provincial Centennial Celebration Council has decided upon the following inscription, from Pericles, for the Wellington provincial memorial at Pe tone:— . | So they gave their bodies to t*ie Commonwealth and received, each for his own memory, praise that will never die; and with it, the noblest sepulchre, not that in which the mortal bones are laid, but a home in the minds of men. Suggestions for the inscription were invited from local bodies. The one chosen was submitted by the Wellington City Corporation. ! His Excellency the GovernorGeneral, Lord Galway, will make a special trip from Auckland to open the memorial on January 22, and he will be accompanied at the cere- ■ mony by Lady Galway. A small committee was appointed to attend to the details of the ceremony. PAGEANT PROPOSAL. The question was discussed as to whether, under' existing circumstances, it would now be possible *o proceed with the proposal to hold a provincial historical pageant in March. Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, who presided, said it was questionable whether the necessary support would be available. Mr. A. Mulligan, Internal Affajrs Department National Centennial branch, said that, if Wellington was , to go ahead with a good historical pageant, it would be necessary to know as soon as possible so that the Government could be ip-1 proached on the subject of floats. Where would the money come from? Mr. Hislop asked. He said he thought it would be very difficult to get the help of mercantile j j houses. I Mr. A. E. Mansford, Palmerston North, said that Wellington was in the position of being torn between two extremes. It would be a great pity if the capital city did not put on such a pageant, but, although he appreciated that conditions had altered materially, on the other hand there was not the curtailment of, expenditure in the direction where they might be expecting a lead, if local authorities were going to curtail expenditure and it was lot going to be curtailed from the Government point of view, who was going to benefit out of it? It seemed to him that they would be saving money for someone else. Mr. W. S. Wauchop said that a Government float had been completed at a cost of £50 for materials. He believed that it was a very good float, so that it seemed that estimates of £150 to £250 were wide of the mark. He thought that quite effective tableaux could be arranged for very little expenditure. Voluntary assistance could be enlisted from sports bodies, other organisations, and the schools, and he thought that in that way they could probably produce a pageant that would be well worth while. This kind of things had been done very well in otner cities on other occasions without heavy expenditure. In reply to Mr. Mansford, who suggested that it would be necessary to have something definite planned before any organisation was approached, Mr. Wauchop said that a tentative scheme had been drawn up. It was decided to ask Mr, Wauchop and the secretary (Mr. E. M. Bardsley) to go into the question of the support likely to be available.