WAR MEMORIAL

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 29 May 1923, Page 5

WAR MEMORIAL

QUESTION OF SITE

DEPUTATION TO BOROUGH COUNey-L. A deputation from the South Can terour, war Memonai Uuminiiiee waited on me jjoruugu Council iasi liignt, to ask trie uouxxCxl s approval o. uniit is known as me r±yaiu site, oi wmen to erect tne ‘ooutu uanteroiuq War Memorial. Mr wm C. JXaymond acted as spokesman. Hei said tnat mis urns tne lourtu time the Committee nacl waited on tm uouucil, and tnougn it nad not been suecessiui beiore, it hoped'to nave its request grantea on this occasion. . The previous Council had raised ail sorts oi objections, ana the committee had been beaten by one vote, it should be re : cognised that .the committee was composed or local residents who would not willingly do anything to injure the town; they all had tne best interests or tne place at heart. Mr Raymond dealt in detail with the objections winch had been raised, and contended tnat there was no legal, or other obstacle to the adoption of what was knowm as the Hydro site for tho memorial. Mr Raymond read opinions from engineers, architects and traffic inspectors in support of this site, and said tnat the committee had gone to no end of trouble in selecting a suitable site for the memorial, and the latter, they considered, could hardly be improved upon, in form. The speaker referred to all the sites which bad been ■inspected, quoted the opinions of the committee thereon, and said that’there was nonet to compare with the Hydro site. ,No layman, said Mr Raymond, could put Ins opinion against the reports which the committee had received from the experts from whom it had sought advice. The committee was not asking any favour, and considered that the Council should give its consent to the Hydro site: At a meeting of the previous Council, Cr.*;Wallace (now Mayor) had said that he considered the Council had no right to object' to the site unless it was dangerous to traffic. The experts’ reports showed that it was not dangerous, and the committee hoped that the Mayor would now vote for the Hydro site. Mr Raymond said ha was sorry to say that the Council had blocked the War - Memorial Committee Since 1918, and he hoped that there would be no further obstruction of the committee The erection of the memorial was a sacred work, and the committee desired to get on with and complete it as quickly as possible. Major L. M. Giglis endorsed Mr Raymond’s remarks, and as president of the R.S.A., he assured the Council that his Association was strongly in favour of the Hydro site. The "majority of the public also favoured this site, and so did botß the local newspapers. The Council should not pay

any heed to the objection raised by the Hallway Uepartmout, wmen gave no sound ieason an- n& objection. ino De-

partment talked abotiL implicating tne nue round tne Bay, .so mat it would need to cut uiroiigu tne memorial sue, out it it diu tnat it would nave to cut into Stafford snieot m front of Air J. I‘. Newman s place, anti it was not likely to do unit in view of tiro fact mat there was plenty of room on Uie sea side of the railway. Air u. s. -eraser also spoke in strong advocacy of the Hydro site, and said that a great many" of tne bereaved parents of laas who had given their nves felt the failure to erect a monument long since very keenly. They left tiiat their loved ones had been lorgotten, and that the sacrifices they nad made were already being treated as of no account. It was dimcult to persuade them otherwise. On behalf of these people iie asked the Council to approve tne Hydro site so tnat the memorial could oe erected without further delay. Apart from this, the Com-nut-tee had completely satisfied itself tiiat tho Hydro site was the best of all sites. Air Jlraser appealed to die Council not tu delay the matter further, but to .snow their sympathy with the brave mothers, who had so heroically sent tnc-ir boys to tne war, by acceding to ihe Committee’s desire to erect a monument oi beauty oil one of the nest sites m the world. When this was accompiisueu tne bereaved mothers anti latners would no longer feel aggrieved. Cr. Sattertnwaife, m reply to Major logos, sard mat a memuer of tne JK.0..-v. mid toid him that the rI.S.A. liaa never had an opportunity oi discussing tins question ui sue. .u-ijor -Lngus said tnat there never had oecn a vote recorded against, tne riyuru site at any meeting of tne lv.a.A., and at a meeting at winch ail returned men were invited to attend a mo non nad been carried unanimously m favour of tne Hydro site. Moreover,

at me recent animal meeting of the it.S.A. tne action of tne Committee in advocating tne Hydro site had been unanimously approved. , The -Mayor promised the deputation that their request would receive full and sympathetic consideration. At the same time, he reiterated ins previouslyexpressed opinion that all tne Council should take into consideration was tne question as to whether the granting ot mis sue would interfere with the safety

of trarnc. 'J no deputation thanked the Council and retired. Cr. Hattertliwaite immediately gave notice of motion to the effect that as this matter had been before the Council on three previous occasions a poll ox tlie electors should be taken to decide 'whether the Hydro site should be granted or not. Crs. Guinness, Manchester and Anstey expressed the Opinion that the •Council should deal with tlie- matter straight away, as there was a full Council and the matter had a'ireaay been delayed too long. Cr. Guinness moved that the Hydro

site be granted. The Mayor said there were four new councillors present, and he thought the matter should be deferred till next meeting to enable them to become conversant with the position. Crs. McNab and Arnold said that they were prepared to vote on the mat-

ter that night-. _ ‘ Cr. Hawkey said that lie woqld like to see the correspondence with the Railway Department before he could vote on the question. Cr. Murphy said the matter was an important one, and one which required consideration from every point of view. The Railway Department had stated its policy, ancl distinctly cautioned the Council against granting the Hydro site. The railway engineers were highly paid experts, and lie did not see how the Council could disregard their warning. The Mayor ruled that as the business was “extraordinary business” (no notice having been given of it) it should be dealt,-with by notice of motion. Cr. Guinness therefore gave notice of motion for next meeting: “That the Council approves of the Hydro site.” This and Cr. Satterthwaite’s notice of motion will be dealt with next meeting. The Mayor said he hoped that all councillors wbuld be present at next meeting, as the matter -would then be finally dealt with.