Official View Against Memorials In Domains

Northern Advocate, 13 March 1947, Page 6

Official View Against Memorials In Domains

(Special.)

KAWAKAWA'. This Day

■'l am afraid this will spike our guns altogether,” commented Cr J. Hay, Towai-Maromaku representative on the Bay of Islands County Council, when discussing at yesterday’s monthly metting a letter from the Internal Affairs Department staling that, for the purposes of subsidy, war memorials should not be vested in domain boardsbut in local authorities.

The council had previously asked the department to define the term

“local authorities,” with this point in mind. This had now been considered, the letter from Wellington stated, and a decision reached.

A community centre area vested in a domain board would remain the property cf the Crown and would be subject to the restrictions of the Public Reserves, Domain and National Parks Act, 1928, and coidd not be subsidised.

Cr Hay said the public had been subscribing for months past in his district to a scheme to build a community sports area, including a hall, football field, two tennis courts, bowling green, etc., and had laid great hopes on securing a subsidy for the plan as a war memorial. ONLY A DOMAIN AVAILABLE,

The domain at Maromaku was the only suitable land available and the new official ruling might preclude the scheme from successful completion. Councillors commented that it might have a similar bearing on war memorial plans in other parts of the county. It was mentioned that the Internal Affairs Department had some arrangement for making subsidies for community sports centres apart from the war memorial subsidies. The council resolved to call for war memorial schemes within the county as it was expected to do under the announced legislation. All local schemes, it was pointed out, must be presented for subsidy purposes through the local body.