N.Z.'S CENTENARY

Stratford Evening Post, Volume IV, Issue 161, 19 June 1936, Page 6

N.Z.'S CENTENARY

' SEPARATIONS. POLICY DECISIONS. Placed Before Centennial v Committee. , y ' PLANS DISCUSSED. Press Association—Copyright Wellington, June IS. The policy decisions of the Government in the preparations for the celebration of New Zealand's centenary in 1940 were placed ~ before the. National Centennial Committee by the chairman, the Hon. W. E. Parry, Minister of Internal Affairs, to-day. The Government, he said, had decided that the event should be celebrated by:(1) Permanent memorials., including a national memorial to be erected by the Government. (2) A series of historical surveys of the fust 100 years of New Zealand's national life. (3) ; Suitable celebrations, both national and local, throughout 1940.

Apart from the cost' of the national memprial and the historical surveys, he said the Government contemplated providing £250,000 for the celebrations. On the question of permanent memorials Mr. Parry said that the Government would provide the cost of and erect a permanent national memorial. Further than that he could not go at present. Its form was under consideration by the Government and an announcement would be made in due course. The Government would make provision for subsidising money raised locally for memorials duly approved. A national committee is to be set up at an early date to go fully into the question of historical surveys. He visualised a series of works by the most competent authorities in New Zealand on every phase of national life, written moreover for general reading as well as for the purposes of historical record.

i , Five Classes. j' - ' I As to the celebrations, he divided these ! into five classes, as follows: (1) Celebrations of events of national importance at places "where the events actually occurred. The Waitangi Treaty at Waitangi and the proclamation of sovereignty' over the South Island at Akaroa were quoted to illustrate what, he meant. (2) Purely local celebrations, this divisible into (a)'particular local,.events' and . (b) general celebrations in honour of thei centenary. , ~ (3) Maori celebrations. (A) ;An exhibition at Wellington. (5) jSpecial attractions for overseas I visitors. ! With -regard to the expenditure of the ( I £250,000 mentioned above, he said that' this provided'up to a' maximum of £75,000 loan and a subsidy for the exhi- , bition at Wellington. The balance was j for national celebrations to. be held by j the Government itself ' or" by provincial organisations on behalf of the Government,; and for subsidising off £1 for £3 basis moneys .raised locally for local celebrations or memorials. " In" addition to all the' above the Government would bear the'cost of suitably entertaining guests from abroad invited by' the Government, and would also, be- . 'tween now and 1940 suitably increase the vote of the Tourist and Publicity Department j for advertising abroad and providing . special tourist attractions.' With, regard to the Wellington exhibi-:; tion Mr. Parry said the Government concurred hi the view that the exhibition should be held at Wellington. The Wellington committee fathering the proposal visualised a company with a £300,000 capital. To that the Government had' no objection. The committee, however, | asked the Government,for assistance, to. extend ' £IOO,OOO by'a grant'and £50,000 by way of'share capital. Frankly it was impossible for the Gov- | ernment to consider financial help on such a scale as that in view of the very, large sum. .it would have to provide .in connection with other celebrations, national and local,' and memorials. What j the Government was prepared to do I once the company was formed was to make a loan, free of interest and not exceeding ' £25,000, and a . subsidy' of £1 for £2 of subscribed share capital up to a limit of £50,000. ; -' Financial Help. It must not be forgotten, Mr. parry.; pointed out, that whatever financial help the Government gave would not be 'the full extent of the Government's exhibi- . tion expenditure. It cost the Gbvernerament of the "day £30,000 for the Gov-' ernment's courts and exhibits at the Dunedin Exhibition, and if the Wellington Exhibition was on the same scale at least that amount would be required in IC4O. i .■•-•■ It was made clear by Mr. J. W. Heenan, Under-Secretary of the Department of internal Affairs, that it was desired that the • one-time popular conception of memorials in njarble 0 r bronze should be departed from. Several proposals had already been received from various centres, said Mr. Heenan. and all indicated that the trend was away from stone and marble in doubtful or gloomy taste and towards forms on a higher plane. The people of New Zealand were looking forward to the big historical occasion to be commemorated in a form which would be not only of interest but j also of real value to the people of the future.

j Mr. Parry said it would be the duty of the committee set up to consider that aspect cf celebration to impress upon the people from one end' of the country to the other that the.fprm of the-memorials should be such as would properly commemorate the progress--of-the past 100 years and be of use during the next 100 years. To avoid pronunciation difficulties in connection with the word "centenary" the suggestion of Mr. Hecnan was adopted by to-day's conference. This was to drop the word altogether in favour of "centennial." New Zealand therefore will have a centennial, not a cent: nary.