Women's suffrage, temperance and anti-betting were strong movements, and gaming houses were banned, which included betting shops.

[1] In 1928, Barnett funded an architectural competition for a statue commemorating the three journeys of James Cook to New Zealand.

[3][5] At first, a grass plot on the north bank of the Avon River / Ōtākaro in Victoria Square, outside the Limes Hospital (84 Kilmore Street) was considered for the statue.

[9] Dan Sullivan, the Mayor of Christchurch and Member of Parliament representing the Avon electorate, was tasked with inviting the governor-general, Lord Bledisloe to the unveiling ceremony.

[1] In his speech, the Governor-General referred to early New Zealand history:[11] In the early history of New Zealand there are three outstanding landmarks—its effective discovery by James Cook, then a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, in 1769; its Christianisation, commencing with the arrival of Samuel Marsden in 1814; and its inclusion in the British Empire under the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.

[12] Barnett then addressed the audience and made reference to the tough economic conditions, with New Zealand being affected by the Great Depression and many people suffering much distress.

The Square itself got a new landscape design and in this process, the Cook Statue was relocated to its current more central position.

[17] The Cook Statue is registered as a Category II heritage item by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

The statue is significant as an example of Trethewey's work, as one of the many memorials to Cook in New Zealand, and as a landmark in Victoria Square.