The Loyalist Memorial

Year
1882
Month
1
Day
26
Article Title
The Loyalist Memorial
Author
-------
Page Number
2
Article Type
Language
Article Contents
THE LOYALIST MEMORIAL. There does not seem to be much doing so far towards carrying out the recommendations of the Common Council in regards to a Loyalist Memorial Hall. There is but one opinion as to the desirability of honoring the centenary of the landing of the Loyalists at St. John with as much eclat as possible, but there is less unanimity of opinion as to the best way of carrying out the details. A good many people who are very anxious that the celebration should be as great a success as possible are afraid that the very magnitude of the scheme proposed by the Council may prevent any thing substantial being accomplished at all. It is less than sixteen months to the centenary of the grand occasion, and in that brief time it will be difficult to carry out all the necessary arrangements. A good deal of time will be needed to prepare plans and raise the necessary funds, to say nothing of the time required to build so large a structure, which will necessarily be of an ornamental character, and not a building to be run up hastily. Some people who would be very glad to see a Memorial Hall erected are anxious about the provisions that would be necessary for keeping it up properly and making it a really useful institution. They remark that the Council have not gone into financial details, nor even reported a bill on the subject to go before the Legislature. Others again object to the plan of having the Hall controlled by the Executive Council as is proposed, and think it is singular that the Common Council, at a time when they are asking for the right to appoint their own civic officers, should be willing to place a building which will be largely a St. John institution under the control of the Government. These objections are of course not fatal to the proposed Memorial Hall scheme, and might very easily be disposed of if the matter was being taken up vigorously by our citizens, but so far we see no sign of that being done. We trust that this apparent indifference, for it can only be apparent, will be speedily followed by a greater show of zeal, and by active measures for carrying out the scheme prepared by the Council, or some other scheme equally good, for properly honoring the centenary of the Loyalists.