Mayor opposes clock tower site

Masterton Mayor Garry Daniell has challenged a call to build a replica clock tower in the Masterton town square now under construction.

Mr Daniell said the proposed clock tower, according to Masterton resident Jim O'Dowd, would feature the four restored faces, mechanism and bells that were salvaged from the Masterton Post Office built in 1900.

Mr Daniell had helped finance the restoration of the clock parts, alongside a small community grant, and had seven years ago proposed the siting of a replica clock tower featuring the salvaged parts at the roundabout at the northern approach to the town.

Mr O'Dowd says in a letter to the editor of the Wairarapa Times-Age the clock tower would be for visitors' benefit only and a dangerous distraction for drivers at the roundabout site and would be best sited at the town square site "for all to enjoy, residents and visitors alike".

Construction of the $660,000 Masterton town square and adjoining car park started last month at the former council car park and green space site bordering stretches of Perry, Cole and Chapel streets between the Masterton Town Hall and Wairarapa Times-Age building.

The 1.5m diameter faces, clock mechanism and four bells - the largest of which weighs 700kg and measures over a metre in diameter - were taken from the earthquake-damaged postal building in 1942.

The bells had last tolled from an automated tower built by the Masterton Rotary Club at the southern gate to Queen Elizabeth Park, but had fallen silent for the better part of 30 years after frequent mistiming and complaints the tolling was a distraction to staff at the nearby Masterton District Court.

Mr Daniell had earlier told the Times-Age the bells "had a beautiful mellow tone" and the faces featured wrought iron hands and roman numerals in black relief.

The bells were removed from the tower in 2006 and were stored alongside the other parts for eventual installation in a replica tower that Mr Daniell said yesterday would cost "hundreds of thousands" of dollars to build.

He questioned the efficacy of siting a replica tower at the town square given the significant cost of building the structure, which would be especially burdensome and unlikely in the wake of an unrelated proposal to construct timber signposts with metal icons throughout the town.

He said the clock tower also would be largely wasted at the town square site and the tolling of the bells would more than likely provoke complaints from nearby businesses and residents similar to the gripes that had silenced the bells when sited at the entrance to the park.

Mr Daniell said there were still some mechanical elements of the clock "that needed exploring" and it could take up to three years to construct a replica tower.