THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Friday, March 14, 1947. THE OCTAGON RESERVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26410, 14 March 1947, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Friday, March 14, 1947. THE OCTAGON RESERVE

It would be grudging to withhold from Cr Jolly, as chairman of the Reserves Committee of the City Council, a word of commendation for seeking 3t means of providing the women of Otago with muchneeded rest rooms. The suggestion, however, that a site might be made in the Lower Octagon reserve for such a purpose is one that must dismay most citizens. The immediately unfavourable reaction which is reported in our news columns this morning is convincing. The. memorial which it would be necessary to remove to clear a site would not be missed. It is without beauty, it is virtually in a state of disitegraticn, and it is in spirit of inferior character. But the free space which would be provided by its removal should be left free. The concept that definitely utilitarian public amenities, such as lavatories and rest rooms, can be so camouflaged as to add beauty to an open area is Victorian; and while such necessary structures can and ' should be architecturally pleasing, they should not be situated on any of the # few civic reserves that Dunedin’ possesses in the city area. The best and most pleasing monuments to our civic pride that can possibly be placed on the Octagon reserve are trees, flowers and grass. If, as may be hoped, the City Council cannot approve the Reserves Committee’s suggestion, the search for a site for women’s rest rooms must be continued. The site owned by the City Council, below the Corporation buildings on the corner of George street and the Octagon, would be excellent for this 1 purpose and should in spite of present -difficulties in regard to building there receive further consideration. It is the clear duty of the civic authority to provide the rest rooms, and even if building operations cannot now be put in hand, planning could well be undertaken, especially if the final decision is to. acquire property to build on—a solution of the problem which may yet have to be* faced. If, meanwhile, the Octagon memorial is found to be in so dangerous a condition that it should be removed—to the benefit of the Stuart street approach to the Octagon,' to which Dr McLintock refers—that work of expurgation could be gone on with._ The Presbyterian community might not welcome the opportunity of reerecting this memorial, in grounds that are more than adequately decorated by the beautifully proportioned First Church. They might, however, in the event of the demolition of the rather ambiguous memorial column in the Octagon, consider the time appropriate for the establishment Of a fitting monument to the Rev Dr -Thomas Burns. After a hundred years his influence is ponderable still and his memory potent in the city he did so much to found, and it would be a pity to rob Dunedin of a monument, however poor, without building a new and better one in a suitable place. The uplifting of the spirit which can derive from the contemplation of good sculpture is an experience that it would be difficult to obtain in Dunedin, and it is remarkable that in all the suggestions for marking the centenary none has been put forward for the relatively inexpensive undertaking of a work of statuary by a really competent artist.