THE JUBILEE MEMORIAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12429, 19 February 1901, Page 4

THE JUBILEE MEMORIAL.

The selection of a site for the Jubilee memorial, which will occupy the. attention of the meeting of subscribers this afternoon, should nob present many difficulties. Of the four sites suggested, two, we think, may at once be set aside. There is already too little room at the corner of High Street and Cashel Street, and as the business of the city increases this corner will become even more crowded than it is to-day. Moreover, a monument in snch a position would be overshadowed by the buildings which are sure to be erected in the neighbourhood. The Oxford Terrace site, which has some obvious recommendations, may be eliminated also, because whatever advantages it possesses are also possessed, and in a greater degree, by Market Square. The discussion, we imagine, will concern the respective merits of this space and Cathedral Square. Obviously, if the latter position were not already occupied the matter would need no further consideration. A memorial of the Jubilee of the province, and that memorial a statue of the dead Queen, is, in itself, entitled to the most central position. But the pride of place in the capital city of the province has already been given—and with perfect propriety—to a statue of John Robert Godiey, the founder of the province, and we would view with the deepest regret any attempt to remove from its position the monument which a generation has come to know and to admire. The statue which stands in Cathedral Square is a memorial of the foundation of the province, and if we depose it now, what guarantee have we that fifty years hence the Jubilee memorial will not be required to give place to a Centennial monument? We hope that this suggestion will not be pressed to-day. The most suitable site for the Jubilee memorial, to our mind, is Market Square, either where the band rotunda now stands or on the space opposite. The Square is already intersected by a Victoria Street, and its name might appropriately be changed to Victoria Square. There would not, wo think, be any confusion in the nomenclature, and the present name has no very pleasant or hallowed memories clinging round it. There could be no better site. The space is ©petit, the view uninterrupted l and the position fairly central.