Editorial: Family approves but will the public?

The die now appears cast. The building blocks for the ship-in-a-bottle memorial for Sir Peter Blake on the Auckland waterfront are largely in place.

Chief among those blocks was this week's reiteration of support for the project by Lady Pippa Blake. "The proposed exhibition is a wonderful tribute to the life and work of Peter," she said. It was, she added, her late husband's wish that NZL32 be displayed as a permanent tribute to New Zealand's winning of the America's Cup in 1995.

Whatever the lingering questions, it seems reasonable that on her recommendation the $10 million glass structure will proceed. That does not, however, invalidate the doubts. Even the Blake family have raised concerns about the cost of the project. They deserve high praise for doing so. Gratifyingly, Te Papa seems to have taken those worries on board. While reaffirming its support for the project, it has indicated that it will look at ways of trimming costs without compromising standards.

But the public contribution to the memorial will require continued scrutiny. Little of the funding detail has been released. We know only that $2 million is scheduled to come from the Government, $2 million from Auckland City, and $5.5 million though fundraising and sponsorship.

We also know that rather too much was taken for granted when the Mayor of Auckland promised $2 million of ratepayers' money before the project had even been discussed at a full council meeting or options had been chewed over.

Nor should the building of the memorial on Princes Wharf negate the fact that buying and renaming Kaikoura Island in the Hauraki Gulf would be an apt tribute to the champion yachtsman. It is one that Sir Peter, the environmentalist, would surely have loved to bequeath to the people of New Zealand and the generations to come.

If funding should allow, it may not be too late to consider a complementary tribute to Sir Peter in the Hauraki Gulf, involving Kaikoura Island.

This would ease much of the concern about the project among the people of Auckland. It would be seen as fitting by the 70 per cent or so who, in TV One and TV3 polls, indicated their preference for Kaikoura Island as a memorial. Only about 17 per cent supported the waterfront plan.

It would doubtless also sit more comfortably with the likes of Sir Tom Clark, the former Team New Zealand director and Blake mentor, who said Sir Peter would "turn in his grave" at the thought of the glass structure.

The Herald has been berated by Auckland's mayor for suggesting that Kaikoura Island may be a more fitting tribute. This newspaper, John Banks said, was against everything positive in Auckland. Nonsense. The Herald serves Auckland by raising issues that affect the city and its people, issues such as, a month or so back, the proposed renaming of the Starship hospital.

Mr Banks' comments, and his failure even to acknowledge the widespread public unease about the glass memorial, reduce him to a figure who cannot be taken seriously.

The Maritime Museum memorial should go ahead not because of the mayor's bluster and braggadocio but because it has the approval of Lady Pippa and her family. And because Te Papa appears sensitive to many of the concerns, especially the need to cut what seems to be extravagant spending.

Yet there will always be an intriguing footnote to this debate. This involves the fate of the proposal for the Viaduct Harbour to be renamed Blake Harbour. In many ways, that would have been the most suitable of tributes to Sir Peter. Blake Harbour would have been the least costly, and least controversial, memorial to our greatest sailor.