DUNSANDEL MEMORIAL

UNVEILING CEREMONY

A monument to perpetuate the memory of the men who gave their lives in the Great War has been erecetd by the residents of the Dunsandel district in the north-eastern corner of the Dunsandel Domain. It is a good piece of workmanship and does the district credit. The monument is of Invereargill grey stone and it is mounted on a square concrete base with three steps leading up. On the top is a splendid figure of a .New Zealand soldier, correct in every detail, the work of an Italian artist. The figure is of Italian white marble. A

larg<* white marble slab has been let in to the side of the monument and upon this'the inscription appears. The spot selected for the memorial is probably the best to be found in Dunsandel.

A large and representative gathering assembled on Sunday afternoon wluui, the Hon. Sir Heaton Rhodes, K.B.E.J Minister of Defence, performed the unveiling. The ceremony was preceded ~uy a short service conducted by the Beys J.-S. Eeid and H. G. Hawkins, the singing being led by the combined church choirs, with Mr A. J. Sheat st the organ. The service opened with the 100 th Psalm, "All people that on earth do dwell." Prayer was offered by the Rev Beid, who presided, then followed the hymn "O God our help." The Eev Hawkins read the lesson from the third chapter of Solomon. ''Now the labourer's task is o'er" was the next hymn. There was a good muster of returned men at the : service, all wearing poppies for remembrance. Major E. A. Eow was present to represent Colonel Young, officer in charge of the Sduthern Command. The Hon C. A. C. Hardy, M.L.C., was also present.

The Hon. Sir Heaton Rhodes drew aside the flag and declared the memorial unveiled to the glory of God and in memory q£ the brave men who made the great sacrifice. In the course of a speech Sir Heaton Ehodes said that in paying a tribute to the brave men who had made the great sacrifice the people of Dunsandel were also honouring themselves and those fathers and mothers who had given sons to die for their country. He was glad to note that they had erected a memorial that would endure. Enduring memorials were also being erected in France, on Gallipoli and in the Jordan Valley. They had done well to perpetuate in stone the m'en&ry of the men who had fallen In the fight for liberty. No doubt the names would be inscribed on other memorials. Many would find a place on the Ellesmere county memorial to Le erected at Leeston shortly. Eeferring to the work of the War Graves Committee, the Minister said that there were 500,,QG0 graves to be attended to in France and Belgium. The remains would be collected into 4.000 cemeteries. Shortly after the war he had been in France and had seen something of the work that was being done to look after the graves of fallen soldiers. Since then he had seen photographs which ■showed thatthe graves were being well cared for. It was the intention to have headstones of uniform design, *a-ther than to permit the erection of stones of various designs. The committee felt that as rich and poor had fought side by side as comrades for the same ideals it would be fitting that the headstones over all the graves should be alike. It was the sincere hope of all that the peace won at so great a price would be an enduring peace. Just as our men had fought for peace, so the great statesmen of the world whon meeing in conference should aim at making it a lasting peace. The count iy had a duty to the men whose memoiy they had met to honour that day aui the duty was to care for those who had been left behind. The Government had not been neglectful of its duty towards the returned men and the dependents of the fallen, but there were some very difficult cases to deal with. At the recent conference of ex-service men in South Africa, at which the New Zealand R.S.A. had been represented, ithad been shown that no other part: of the Empire had done more for the icfurned'men and dependents of the fallen than New Zealand had done. Pensions alone involved an expenditure of £1,700,000 annually. The Government was anxieus to do what the fallen soldiers would have wished it to do by their dependents and others who ha 3 suffered through the war. We must remember the sacrifices they had made and bo ready to make sacrifices ourselves. The Great War had shown that although Britain was unprepared, as was usually the case, her spirit was the same as of old and her people, including the people of the colonies, were determined to endure to the end. Sir Heaton concluded his speech by quoting Laurence Beynon's lines "They shall not grow old as we who are left grow oia."

Mr D. Jones, M.P., said that tlui gathering that afternoon was an indication that; the people had not forgotten and did not intend to forget, tlie raeu who had- fought their battles. The Me morial Committee appreciated the .spin] in which the people had helped in cou

nexion with the memorial. The human memory was short • and it was well to have a permanent reminder of the sacrifices that had been made. While the casualty lists were coming in our own troubles loomed larger than they did today, but we now had a clearer vision of what we had been saved from, 'if defeat instead of victory had come to the Motherland she would have been shorn of her possessions and New Zealand, one of the brightest gems of the Empire, would have been in the hands of the German people. We should have been shackled with their cast iron military system and everything that Germany stood for. The men who had fallen had preserved for us the right; to sing our own National Anthem and to keep the Union Jack flying. New Zealand was not boastful, yet how much we had to boast over! Although New Zealand was one of Jthe farthest distant outposts of the Empire, 16,000 of her young men had given their lives in th.i Great War, while Belgium, with a mud) greater population, had lost only 13,000 men. That showed the loyalty and devotion of this Dominion. Instead of the disintegration predicted by our enemies, the different units forming the British Empire had been welded into :i stronger whole than ever. Victory could not fill the vacant chair, and it was well that we should look after the relatives who had been bereaved. Today the British Empire was resting upon the men out of sight who had glad'y sacrificed their lives for the ideals for which the Empire stood.

Mr J. Cunningham, chairman of the Ellesmere County Council, said he dee ned it a privilege to be present to join in honouring the men who had giv»n their lives for the high ideals of liberty and justice for which Britain stood. The war had shown that our Emp;je was sound to the core. The Great War had been a war of ideals and the ideals of the Anglo Saxon had prevailed against thoso of the Teuton. Theßri tish flag would still prevail. Having triumphed we must realise our responsibilities and remember that we should only hold our position just as long as we gave other nations a fair deal. The men they had met that afternoon to honour had left, a glorious memory behind and the spot around which the •people had gathered would be a sacred spot to the people of Dunsandel.

Mr F. -T. Andrew, chairman of the Selwyn County Council, paid a generous tribute to the people of Dunsandel for the way in which they had responded co the call of the Empire during the Great War. He counted it an honour to associate himself with the people on such an oeasion. When the call went forth for men to help defend the Empire against a despotic power no part of the Selwyn county had responded better than that portion about Dunsandel. He wished to congratulate the Dunsandel people ou the unveiling of a very fine memorial —the crowning act of the district's fine achievement in the cause oi ■iberty. He trusted that the memorial would ever keep green the memory of the men who held the ideals of liberty and justice dearer than their own lives, and that it would serve as au inspiration to the children of this and future generations. Dr W. H. Simpson, an old Dunsaudol boy and one of the first medical men from Canterbury to leave for service abroad, said he counted it a privilege to be able to take part in the unveiling eel-oniony. Nearly all the boys whose names were upon the memorial wore well known to him. As a doctor he had seen something of the courage and fortitude of the New Zealand boys and could say that the country had reason to i!eel very proud of them. Their heroism under fire and courage in sickness and even in death was something to admire. To the relatives of. the fallen men he wished to extend his heartfelt sympathy. While all prayed that there would be no more wars, if ever the ideals for which our Empire stood were m danger men would always be found ready to fight for the maintenance of those ideals.

Mr G. Sheat, treasurer of the memorial fund, thanked all who had respond eel to the appeal for funds. At the outset there had been some difference of opinion as to the form the memorial should take, but the resolution to ertv.t a monument had been carried by an overwhelming majority. The contract price was £500, and he still had in hand aj sum of over £80. It was his desire ?6 remove the paling fence at the corner and erect in its place a fence of rougAcast stone, surmounted by an iron railing. He also hoped to see the spot beautified by the planting of flowers and shrubs. Sir Heaton Ehodes, Mr Walker and others had already promised plants. Mr Sheat said that the money in hand would almost cover the cost of the work he had in view, but he wanted to get another £100 to be invested as a permanent ■ endowment

the interest to go towards the cost of keeping the plot in order. The indivi dual subscriptions received ranged from 2/6 to £35. Sir Heaton Rhodes said he would give a plant grown from seeds he had obtained on Gallipoli to be planted in che plot around the memorial. Mr 0. M. Sheat, on behalf of the returned soldiers, thanked the people o? Dunsandel for erecting the memorial lo

the memory of their fallen comrades. In erecting the monument they were also honouring the returned men. They had shown a true British spirit in voluntarily perpetuating the memory of the fallen. Mr Sheat made an appeal to those present to biiy poppies on Poppy Day. The ceremony concluded with the hymn "Abide with me," the sounding of "The Last Post," \ the singing of the National Anthem and the benediction. Subsequently many beautiful wreaths were placed upon the base of the monument, /including one from the returned soldiers. The inscription on the top of the memorial slab was as follows: "Erected to the Glory of God in grateful remembrance of Dunsandel soldiers who purchased our liberty with their lives in the Great War, 1914—1919." At the bottom was inscribed the words, "They lie buried in many lands thit we may live in peace here." The names on the memorial are as follow.:.: P. J. Upston, A. G. Hill, J. Burgess, S. Stephens, G. Wileox, li. Crossen, B. Parris, A. J. McLaughlin, H. S. Crossen, E. D. Eeid, S. J. Gudsell, C. Newlove, G. Stapleton, D. Balloch, o. G. Harding, T. Hogg, F. Pengelly, W. L. McKenzie, F. Stephens and «T. Gemmell.