CAPTAIN COOK STATUE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 521, 2 August 1932, Page 4

CAPTAIN COOK STATUE.

Successfully Mounted on

Pedestal

The Captain Cook statue donated to the city by Mr M. F. Barnett was safely lowered on to the pedestal at the south-eastern corner of Victoria Square last night. A canvas shroud envelops the statue, which will remain covered until the unveiling ceremony by the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, on Wednesday, August 10. The task of removing the statue from a big lorry and raising it into position took three hours—three hours of anxiety for the sculptor, Mr William T. Trethewey, who superintended operations. As the statue settled into position on two beams placed on the pedestal, a broad smile displaced the somewhat strained look on the sculptor’s face, and with a happy wave of his hands to the small crowd he signalised the end of a fine piece of work. During the evening Mr M. F. Barnett, donor of the statue, was an interested spectator.

About seven o’clock a gap was opened in the wooden fence which has surrounded the pedestal for some weeks, and a huge shingle lorry appeared, carrying Captain Cook, encased in a stout wood and iron frame. The lorry took half an hour in second gear to cart the statue from the sculptor’s studio in Linwood Avenue, and some time was occupied in backing it intoi a suitable position at the base of the 1 pedestal. A small crowd quickly gathered to watch proceedings in the semi-; darkness, and heads craned over the fence took in every detail. Nothing was left to chance, and the risk of an accident was negligible, as the scaffolding round the pedestal had been specially reinforced with an iron beam at the top to carry the weight when the strain was put on the two hand winches which were employed to wind in the strong wire hawsers.