SIR GEORGE GREY'S STATUE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18172, 18 August 1922, Page 3

SIR GEORGE GREY'S STATUE.

3 Sir,—l think that your correspondent, ■ ■ "New Zealander," is under the impression i* that, only peoplo who dash about in p motor-cars are interested in the removal ie of Grey's statue to a more suitable a position. The peculiar configuration of the locality demands that pedestrians " leave the fooipaths for considerable stretches when passing in any direction, and in view of the fact that manycrippled people frequently have to visit this quarter (owing to there being an old age pension paying office and a surgical depot in the vicinity), I think that the city fathers should consider their safety, as well as the convenience of vehicular traffic. As previously suggested, the plot of ground immediately in front of the Town Hall would accommodate the statue on Auckland's u?ost prominent . site. A Limbless Sdleide. Sir,—ln every city of any importance * in the world there axe statues to great men and monuments of great deeds and • these are usually, and rightly so, situa.ted in prominent places. They help to keep 3 alive in the memory of newer generations 5 the fact that almost every race and every ? clasa of people can appreciate public ser--1 vice and patriotism. Auckland has too j few of these statues, and it seems to me j that it would be sheer vandalism to rej move the statue of Sir George Grey, one j of the greatest statesmen and truest patriots New Zealand ever had. Suirely l if there ic any danger through crowded P traffic in that part of the city it would be more reasonable to regulate the traffic ' than to treat Sir George. Grey's statue as q if it were a thing of less importance than the right of individual motorists, to travel through our streets at / a' reckless speisd. _ I remember at the time of my first visit to Auckland that certain citizens had the famous old block-house which guarded the western part of the isthmus destroyed, for the alleged reason that it occasionally harboured wandering gum-diggers. It seems to me that the destruction of that unique monument of pioneer days was just about as reasonable as the suggested removal of Sir George Grey's statue and was due to just the same materialistic spirit and lack of imagination. If the class of people who desire the removal of the statue would for the more artistic adornment of their city, - and would labour to improve its great* natural -advantages and beauties, they waudd more nearly approach the ideals of the great man "whose memoiy they are prepared to insult, a man who loved Auckland and enriched it Mahaba.