ALL COMMUNICATIONS
TO BE ADDRESSED TO THE
CROWN AGENTS FOR THE COLONIES.
HE FOLLOWING REFERENCE AND THE
TE OF THIS LETTER BEING QUOTED.
W/2F/Hong Kong 532
INLAND: "CROWN SOWEST LONDON." OVERSEAS: "CROWN LONDON."
TELEGRAMS
TELEPHONE: ABBEY 7730.
Dear Miss Ruston,
CROWN
AGENTS
FOR THE
COLONIES
14 5
4, MILLBANK,
LONDON, S.W. I.
26th February 1947
4
In continuation of my letter of the 13th February
(2) regarding your letter, 54385/47 of the 3rd February about the repair
of the statue of Queen Victoria, I enclose two copies of a report which I have obtained from the Morris -Singer Company, to whom I sent copies of the photographs and memoranda. I might mention that the Morris-Singer Company are very well known as art metal founders and amongst their recent work is the casting of the bronze statue of King George VI commissioned from Mr. Gilbert Ledward, R.A., for Hong Kong and which I believe will stand in Statue Square.
It will be seen that the firm consider the only satisfactory way is to return the statue to this country where it can be given expert attention and I agree with this view. Should the Colonial Authorities, however, decide against this course it might be possible for them to take plaster casts of the seatings of the missing portions, together with other casts of different portions of the statue as a guide to modelling the missing portions and from these we could perhaps get a sculptor, such as Mr. Ledward for instance, to make models from which replacement parts would be cast. The actual fitting in place would have to be done in Hong Kong and the results would very much depend on the degree of skill with which this work was carried out.
It will be noted that there are no patterns or designs of the original statue available in this country, which is hardly surprising seeing that the statue was made nearly 60 years ago.
It would, in any case, be necessary to supply photographs of the statue in its original condition to enable the design for the missing portions to be carried out. As this is a very well known statue this would presumably not present very much difficulty.
WDF/RAB
Yours sincerely,
Miss A.M. Ruston,
1 Damajhen
Colonial Office,
Downing Street, S..1.