WAR MEMORIAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27504, 26 September 1950, Page 4

WAR MEMORIAL

City Council Defers Its ' . • Decision'

No decision was reached by the Dunedin City Council last night whether a sports centre on the Caledonian Ground was a suitable war memorial for the city.

The council agreed to a proposal by the chairman of the Reserves Committee, Cr Jolly, that decision should be deferred until his committee had considered the matter tomorrow night, after which a special meeting of the council might be held to reach finality on the matter.

The council had before it a letter from the Dunedin RSA setting out its attitude on the present war memorial proposal. It also considered a letter from the War Memorial Committee setting out the form of memorial chosen for the city.

The letter from the RSA stated that the association had never asked for anything further in the way of a war memorial than the rededication of the Cenotaph and the addition of a plaque, commemorating the men of the 1939-45 war. If, however, the citizens wished anything more, that was their own concern. At the same time, the RSA expressed the opinion that any memorial chosen should not be such as might be expected to be provided out of general or civic funds as a civic asset

“Further, we have stated that it is our concern to ensure that the memory of our fallen comrades is not capitalised for the purpose of collecting funds,” the letter continued. “ Finally, as a body which represents ex-service-men, we feel that it would be deplorable if, having accepted the present or any war memorial, the appeal should fall down owing to a lack of public support. “ We feel that the council should seriously consider whether or not the interest taken to date by the public generally,, as shown by the attendance at public meetings called by the Mayor, Sir Donald Cameron, is sufficiently spontaneous to justify proceeding with a war memorial,” the letter concluded.

Cr Jolly asked that a decision by the council should be deferred. He said that a war memorial on the Caledonian Ground would have to fall in with the major plans the Reserves Committee had in hand to improve the ground. The committee would not offer any opposition to the proposal provided that it was carried out as a part of the major plan. Cr Barnes asked whether the council should not decide now whether it wanted this form of war memorial, or whether it approved of the proposed memorial being placed on the Caledonian Ground.

The Mayor, Sir Donald Cameron, explained that the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr Bodkin, had advised that the possibility of a subsidy from the Government would not be jeopardised if he received the City Council’s decision after September 30. The Minister had already been advised by the War Memorial Committee of the choice of the citizens of a sports centre as a war memorial, and the council’s decision could follow later. Cr Ireland said that the letter from the RSA should be given full weight. He agreed with the president of the RSA. The form of memorial proposed was a utility one. Cr Sidey said the test would be whether the money could be raised for the proposal. He thought that the work on the Caledonian Ground which the council intended to do, anyway, and the war memorial proposal, should be combined and the whole ground rededicated as a war memorial. Cr E. J. Anderson said that in his opinion no proposal for a Dunedin war memorial should have gone forward to the Minister of Internal Affairs unless it had been approved by the City Council. The Mayor said that he had been concerned at the poor attendances at the public meetings. The citizens did not attend in any great strength, but they criticised the meetings for being sectional. Cr Jolly said that he felt a special meeting of the council should be held to discuss the position after the meeting of the Reserves Committee tomorrow night. The extensive city pro r posals for the Caledonian Ground and the memorial plans could then be discussed.