UNWANTED GIFT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 4827, 23 August 1937, Page 3

UNWANTED GIFT.

STATUE FOR 'CHRISTCHURCH. Christchurch, August 22. It has been suggested that the statue of James Edward FitzGerald, the first Superintendent of Canterbury, ordered by a pioneer settler, .Mr It. E. Green, and not accepted by the city council, should be placed on Evans . Pass, beside the Sumner Road. For more than a year the sta.tue has lain in its packing case in a city ' store —a work in bronze for which £IOOO has been paid. At its last, meeting the city council almost destroyed some remaining hopes that the statue would be received by it by refusing to receive a deputation from a committee of interested citizens.

In a statement on behalf of the committee, Mr J. E. Tait said the main fear seemed to be that Mr. Green would die and leave one of his dependants not provided for. However, the committee noted that it was four years since Mr Green had decided to give the statue, that it was now paid for, and that Mr Green was still supporting the person dependent on him. For greater security Mr Tait* obtained Mr Green’s permission to approach his solicitor, and it was agreed that Mr Green should enter into a deed’of trust to pay his solicitor certain money as security for the future of this person. These were the facts which it was desired to place before the council, which had unfortunately refused to see the committee. Mr. Tait said that the suggestion for placing the statue on Evans Pass had not yet been considered by the committee. In the meantime, charges to keep the statue in bond are accumulating. Mi’ Green states that if the statue is not placed in a public position soon the sculptor, Mr F. A. Shurrock, may have to pay duty on it to the amount of about £l3O. “Rather than that I will take it to a foundry and have it broken up,” he says.