TIMARU'S CENTENNIAL MEMORIAL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21360, 1 June 1939, Page 11

TIMARU'S CENTENNIAL MEMORIAL

To the Editor of ’* The Timaru Herald

Sir,—The Chinese have a proverb. ‘Tf you have two loaves of bread, but no lily, sell one loaf and buy a lily.” This ancient proverb should be pondered over by the citizens of Timaru in connection witlj the Timaru Borough Council’s decision to build a Women's Community Centre as a centennial memorial. The grandiloquent title deceives no one. It means women’s conveniences and Plunket rooms, and "Ratepayer,” in this morning's issue of your paper, hits the nail fairly on the head in the last sentences of his letter. He says, "if we think that the suggested memorial is a necessity, but are not prepared to pay for it in the ordinary course as a social amenity, then, let us be honest with ourselves and admit that it is a question of expediency, and drop the idea of calling it a memorial to our pioneer settlers." There is the whole thing in a nutshell—bread or a lily. The sponsors of the scheme, which has been very well “engineered.” are quite candid about their reasons for pushing the thing through. The town needs women’s conveniences, etc., and here is a chance to get some cheap assistance from the Government in the form of a subsidy. No stargazing here, to mark the first hundred years of our development! In these unsettled times I am firmly of the opinion that no memorial should be financed by any increase in the rates, not even the historical museum and art gallery which I have mentioned more than once. Rather would it be better to abandon all thought of a costly memorial and mark the centennial by ' a much simpler form of memorial. A stone wall, with a well-cut inscription, a seat facing a pool and fountain, planted round with trees and flowers, would make a much more aesthetic appeal, and it would be a simple memorial in which everyone could have a share, however small. What shall it be, Timaru, bread or a lily? I am. etc., P. W. RULE. Timaru, May 31.