BURNS STATUE IN PARK

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19758, 27 March 1934, Page 10

BURNS STATUE IN PARK

REMOVAL OF SCOTCH EMBLEM VIEWS OF CURATOR The Timaru Scottish Society wrote to a recent meeting of the Works Committee of the Timaru Borough Council asking for consideration of the replacement of the thistle design round the Burns Monument at the Timaru Park. The letter, which was signed by Mr J. Somerville, was as follows:—“I have been instructed by the Council of this Society to again bring under the Borough Council's notice the question of the replacement of the thistle design at the base of the Bums Statue in the Timaru Gardens. This question was again taken up by citizens of Timaru%nd this Society desires to add its protest to those already voiced. "The design as laid out by the late Mr Harper was most beautiful and appropriate, and was the object of admiration of all who visited the Gardens, and we would be pleased to hear that the Council had issued the necessary instructions for its replacement. Trusting this mattey will receive the consideration it is no doubt worth.” Curator's Report. The curator to the Council (Mr A. W. Anderson) reported as follows:—“I recommend that the setting for the Burns statue be left as it is in the meantime, as the whole of the surrounding area will have to be overhauled after the new gates are erected. In my opinion the best setting for the statue would be grass all round the base and two upright yew trees immediately behind, thereby throwing the white granite into sharp relief against a dark green background. “The original design, by its length from the base of the pedestal, detracted from the height and dignity of the statue. This design was carried out in what is known as ‘carpet bedding,’ a type of gardening developed during the period when the taste of the mid-Victorians had reached its lowest ebb. This type of gardening is as utterly remote from modern horticultural taste as is the architecture of that period in comparison with the architecture of the present day. Discussing ‘Carpet Bedding’ in his book ‘The English Flower Garden,’ which has run into fifteen editions, and is one of the greatest gardening books produced during the past century, William Robinson says; ‘All such work is wrong and degrading to art and in its extreme expression is ridiculous.’ I prefer that the Gardens be developed along modem lines, rather than that they be kept as a museum for archaic forms of gardening. “If any outside body wishes to have their favourite plants grown in the borough reserves, or to have any design incorporated in the general scheme, they should also be prepared to provide the necessary plants and to defray any expenses connected therewith.”

The recommendation of the committee was that the thistle design be not reinstated, Cr. P. C. Vinnell dissented from the curator's report, which he took as a reflection on the work of his predecessor. There were many people who thought that the removal of the original was not a good one. He took exception to the curator quoting an English authority in regard to a matter which concerned people of Scotch descent. The curator has classified the work as mid-Victorian, and degrading. Cr. F. B. Hawkey supported Cr. Vinnell, and said that he thought the matter should be completed when the question of new gates came up for consideration. Cr. W. H. Hall said that he noticed that the Scottish Society had not incorporated the thistle in the garden plots in front of the Scottish Hall, The Mayor (Mr T. W. Satterthwaite) said that there were one or two things in the report which might have been left out, for they were not in good taste. The report was adopted.