CARILLON OF 49 BELLS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3714, 19 May 1925, Page 6

CARILLON OF 49 BELLS.

SYDNEY UNIVERSITY. (F-bom Oub Own Cobrf.spokdf.nt.) SYDNEY, May 7.. Various people are claiming the credit of having madg the original suggestion that the Sydney University’s war memorial should take the form of a carillon, but certainly the. first suggestion to make its way into print came from Dame Nellie Melba. It would be appropriate if the Queen of Song were to be allotted the honour of having set afoot a movement which, before many months, will result in the sweet music of the bells floating above Sydney. A dream will soon be a reality. When the suggestion of a carillon was first made, cold water was thrown upon it by the utilitarians because it would serveno useful purpose. Fortunately for Syd- , ney’s artistic sense, supporters of the scheme, who urged that a carillon would be as useful as, and more monumental than, many other kinds of monuments, w r on the day. A year ago a fund was started. The Senate of the University gave its approval to the proposal, and graduates, undergraduates, and other friends of Sydney’s hall of knowledge flung themselves enthusiastically into the project of raising sufficient funds to ensure an adequatelybeautiful and efficient carillon. That within a year their object was achieved is probf enough of the appeal this form of war memorial made to the imagination. Slome families and citizens donated enough money for separate bells, and. other bells were guaranteed by tho faculties and even public bodies. Then, of course, there were the - hundreds of individual subscribers of large and f-mall amounts, all of which helped to swell the general total. The net result waa to have a sum of £17,320 available when tenders were called. The tenders have now been dealt with by the Executive Committee of the University War Memorial, which has decided, subject to the confirmation of the Senate, to accept the tender of Messrs John Taylor and Co., of Loughborough (England), for a carillon of 49 bells, in a framework capable of carrying 53. The firm guarantees that the arrangements are perfectly suitable and that an artistic success is assured. The total, estimated cost of the work completed is £17,330. This includes the setting of a steel frame inside, the present tower of the main University Hall to carry the weight of the bells, the services of a skilled foreman from the Taylor works, and an artist to play the bells at their inauguration and for some weeks afterwards. A suggestion to erect a special campanile for tho carillon was dropped when it waa realised that the cost would be far' more than even the most optimistic could hope to rniso. An English campanologist retorted that so magnificent n proiect as tho fniversity’s required a specially designed campanile 200 ft high, but agreed that the • bells could be, installed in tho present, tower and Inter, when funds wero available, removed to a beautiful campanile. This will be the only carillon in Australia, and those who have hoard the beautiful tones of the bells in Belgium. France, and England are eagerly waiting for their tenos to sound in this city of the south.