Hon. Sir SAM HUGHES (Victoria) presented the first report of the special committee appointed to act with a like committee of the Senate in determining the form of a memorial to be erected in the Parliament Buildings to the late Colonel Baker, as follows:
The Special Committee appointed to confer and act with a like Committee of the Senate in determining the form of the memorial to be erected in the Parliament Buildings to the late Lieut-Colonel Baker, MP., beg leave to present the following as their first report:
At the request of the committees, made during the last session of Parliament, Major R. Tait MacKenzie, a noted Canadian artist and sculptor, prepared two alternative sketches of the proposed memorial, and at a recent meeting of the committees in joint session, the sketches were submitted and explained by Major Tait MacKenzie. Mr. John Pearson, architect of the Parliament Buildings, was present, and his views were also considered as to the merits of the suggested designs.
After several meetings and careful considera-ion, your committee beg to recommend that the site for the proposed memorial selected by your committee during the last session of Parliament and approved by both Houses be adhered to.
That the memorial be a figure in stone, about six feet six inches in height, in high relief, carved to a likeness of the late Lieut.-Colonel Baker in military uniform, and set in a shallow niche on a pedestal four feet in height; the figure itself and the background to l.c made out of a solid block of limestone, which would replace the part of the wall in the site chosen by your committee last session.
It is submitted that a figure in stone, in preference to a bronze figure, would fit in more harmoniously with the architecture of the building, and forming part of the building, would be a more fitting tribute to one who so gallantly laid down his life for the Empire.
With regard to the inscription on the proposed memorial, your committee recommend that the following be inscribed on the front of the pedestal:
"Lieutenant-Colonel George Harold Baker, M.P., Fifth Canadian Mounted Rifles,
Killed in action, June second, 1916,
At the battle of ' Sanctuary Wood.' Erected by order of the Parliament of Canada." and that the selection of suitable inscriptions for the right and left sides of the figure be submitted in a subsequent report of your committee, and for this purpose your committee further recommend that they be given leave to sit again, and to report from time to time.
A clay model in miniature of the memorial is on view in room No. 534.
Your committee have been informed by Major MacKenzie and the architect that the estimated cost of the proposed memorial will be in the neighbourhood of $12,000, and your commute i* teg to recommend that such an amount be placed in the Supplementary Estimates at the present session to defray the cost of the said memorial.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
