HISTORIC PLACES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8733, 15 May 1914, Page 4

HISTORIC PLACES

A few weeks ago it was decided by tho Belgian Chamber of Deputies to save tho field of Waterloo from tho speculative builder, as we should imagine all people who are interested in the preservation of historic places and tho duo respect for tradition would desire. About the same time the British First Commissioner of Works decided to preserve the Bar-gate at Southampton from destruction at the hands of the local Town Council. These contemporaneous decisions, in the view of the “Westminster Gazette,” point to a growing recognition all round of the value of great historical and picturesque relics. “It is with a sigh,” says our contemporary, “that the lover of London reflects that, if this spirit had been entertained by the City Corporation flve-and-thirty years since, they would not have given Temple Bar to a wealthy landowner to ornament the entrance to his park. In tho case of Temple Bar, as of the Southampton Bar-gate, the ’plan for preservation was obvious as having already been adopted for the permanent saving to the people of Paris of those typical Grande Monarque gates, th© Porto St. Martin and the Porte St. Denis; and the hint should nob now be lost upon tho Office of Works, for, though the making of a clearing with the historical relic left intact in the centre costs money, it has lasting good effect. As for Waterloo, it may be assumed that not only is tbo field to be protected from encroachment, but the Chateau of Hougoumont ami 'the farmhouse of La Haye Sainto arc certainly to be saved, as well, if possible, as the cabaret of La Bell© Alliance. Without any or all of these; but especially of Hougqumont and La Haye Sainte, the field of Waterloo would be lamentably incomplete; and w© trust the point has specially been borne in mind by the promoters of this admirable movement.”