CO129-581-8 Centenary anniversary of Colony of Hong Kong- proposed statue of George VI 4-3-1939 - 5-4-1940 — Page 14

FROM:

TO:

ཨེ་ར་ཡབ་མ

COPY OF LETTER.

The Crown Agents for the Colonies.

The Colonial Secretary,

Hong Kong.

DATED:

5th May, 1939.

Sir,

48

14

W/Hong Kong 8508.

I have the honour to refer to your letter, No. 1/1239/37,

of the 4th March, 1939, on the subject of the proposal to erect a

statue of His Majesty, King George VI in Hong Kong, in connection

with the proposed celebrations of the centenary of the foundation of

Hong Kong to be held in January, 1941.

2.

In accordance with the suggestion referred to in the second

paragraph of your letter, we have communicated with Sir William Reid

Dick, and I now enclose a copy of his reply of the 27th March.

will be noted that he estimates the cost of the statue at £10,000.

f.o.b., against the indent estimate of the order of £2,000.

3.

It

In the circumstances, after obtaining the concurrence of the

Colonial Office, we approached Mr. Gilbert Ledward, R.A. a sculptor who is at present engaged upon two statues of His Late Majesty, King George V for Uganda and Kenya. Moreover, His Majesty, King George VI

recently gave Mr. Ledward several sittings for a bust, and if this sculptor were entrusted with the statue for Hong Kong, it would not be necessary to await the return of His Majesty from Canada and U.S.A.

before arranging for the necessary sittings.

4.

I enclose a copy of a letter from Mr. Gilbert Ledward of the

25th April with enclosures, quoting the sum of £3,000 f.o.b. for the

work. The plan of the site is now in the possession of Mr. Ledward,

as well as the photographs of Statue Square and the list of dimensions

of existing statues, enclosed in your letter of 24.3.39.

5.

In the event of the Colonial Government deciding to accept

Mr. Ledward's offer, we shall be glad to have your decision on the

Coly HF. an 8

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/question

file.