WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20324, 3 August 1929, Page 14

WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM

THE COURT OF HONOUR.

RETURNED MEN GRATIFIED

DETAILS OF THE PLANS

" It is perfectly satisfactory and exactly what wo have been asking for," said Colonel T. 11. Dawson, immediate past president of the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association, yesterday regarding the scheme for a cenotaph and court of honour in front of the War Memorial .Museum.

Colonel Dawson added that so far as the returned men were concerned only one thing would remain to bo done after tho scheme had been carried out. His association still hoped that some way would be found to recover the hall of memories in the museum for its original purpose, and to inscribe on tho walls the names of all Aucklandors who had given their lives in the Great War.

Complete plans have boon prepared by tho architects, Messrs. Grierson, Aimer and Dratlin, for the cenotaph and court of honour, and it is expected that a contract will shortly bo lot.

Tho plans are new, because the requirements of (ho original competition did not call for anything in the way of a detailed scheme for the layout of the museum grounds, and until lately tho matter was not pursued further. However. a cenotaph and coutt of honour were depicted in the perspective drawings which Messrs. Grierson, Aimer and Draffin prepared for the competition and again later to show the effect of changes which were ultimately made in tho plans. Cenotaph an Exact Copy. The court now to be formed will match tho building in width—26oft.—and will be 90ft. from front to rear. It will bt> paved all over with precast concrete slabs 3ft. square, and bordered by a kerhing 3ft. wiclo and Ift. high, covered with slabs of tho same material. From the 40ft. driveway in front of the museum colonnade the court will be reached by a bit>ad flight of seven concrete steps, 116 ft. wide. A similar flight on tho lower side will give access to tho motor road, 60ft. wide, that has been formed round tho site, and below this again will be a third flight. The cenotaph, standing in tho centre of the court, will be as nearly as possible an exact copy of the famous monument in Whitehall, and of the same dimensions. It is to be of reinforced concrete, 33ft. high, and faced with blocks of Portland stone, which forms the outer walls of tho museum.

The architects have been at great pains to gather data of Sir Edwin Lutyens' cenotaph. Authentic measured drawings not being available, they have made use of photographs and certain recorded dimensions, together with sketches made on the spot by Mr. K. W. Aimer during a visit to London some time ago. They believe that the finished monument will be the most faithful copy existing in the Empire.

Six bronze llagstaffs, as in the original, will bo fastened three on each side of the pyion. The wreaths hung on the shorter sides will be part oi the stono facing, but tho third wreath, lying on the sarcophagus, will be of bronze. A Nucleus of Beautiflcation.

A pattern will bo introduced into the paving 01 the court by laying some of the s:abs diagonally within a border of others coloured a dark grey. The whole pavement will bo on a sught grade to cairy off rain-water. The court and its surroundings should form an admirable setting lor future Anzac Day ceremonies. The. City Council's proposal for regrading the slope in l'ront of the museum does not include the ground to he covered by the court. The excavation required to be done by the contractor should not exceed 2ft. anywhere on the sile.

The court of honour, as now to be laid out. is only the nucleus of a scheme for the beautification of the whole area round the war memorial. The City Council intends to plant two rows of palms (Phoenix canariensis), 2Coft. apart, on the northern slope between (lie court and the Domain Drive. The space between will he grassed after vegrnding, but in years to come a series of paved terraces and flights of steps, as suggested by the architects in the first place, may he formed upon it

The site offers ample scope for such improvements elsewhere, and for further ornamental planting, which the City Council is already taking in hand. There is also the possibility of embellishing tho court, with flnrrstaffs, standard lamps and other decorative objects. The architects are convinced that the court by itself will add greatly to the appearance of the facade by providing, a I force:.nund .of stonework in which 1 horizontal lines predominate, The re- ' era dins of (be s'one will materially j bv civing a dignified approach-and preI venting the base, of the. colonnade from | being masked, as it now is, from many i ooints of view.

THAMES VALLEY DRAINAGE

SUGGSStED. AMALGAMATION

BOARDS AT VARIANCE

(•BV TELEGRAPH. —OWN - COK RESPONDENT. ] TE AROHA, Friday.

I The conflict of opinion between four I Thames Valley Drainage Hoanl.- on the I merits of a suggestion made liy the Hon. I G. VV. Forbes, Minister of Lands, that | they should amalgamate has I men shifted ! to new ground, as the result of a de- ' cision by the Elstow Drainage Board to refi.se to supply the Waitou Board with informat'on required to further the amalgamation project. A conference of boards favoured the setting up of a special boa id to control the Wa'toa and Waihou Hivers, as a way out of th» difficulty. 'J lie Waitoa Board iatei dissented from this conclusion and resolved to gather details from . other I,cards, with a view to the adoption of amalgamation, as by Mr. Forbes At- t.l>:s week's meeting of the Elstow Board Mr. Dunn moved that the request for information be "deferred. Mr. J/a'c said the Waitoa Board, which favo-ii-.nl ainalg.'iina'foii, had sinijuy taken tiie maito- into its own hnnds 1\ calling on the Government to appoint. a commi-!.: >n * t enforce amalgamation I lie motion was carried.