Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1921. COUNTY WAR MEMORIAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLI, Issue 9430, 29 January 1921, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1921. COUNTY WAR MEMORIAL.

immeasurable, succeeding generations have secured or lost it m \ their lifetime, but never was the boon presented to any age \of man's history after such ardours ! and so great a carnival of death. - How is it that Ashburton, appar- \ ently, realises nothing of all this, how is that the memorial that is to commemorate deathless deeds is delayed completion for lack of \ money; have the mute ranks of little wooden crosses m Flanders' and Picardy no message for Ashburton? We believe that they have, that they still speak with tragic eloquence m many be-" reaved hearts m this town and County, and that, if these fallen warriors are never to find their last resting place m New Zealand soil, their relatives desire to see raised m their memory a monument that may preserve their names m the minds of their fellow-townsmen. True, a fund has been opened, but little or no effort has been made to swell it. Whether* >the will was lacking we are not prepared to say, but certainly at the,.Jin*e tb& first appeal , ,wal3 issued, the public possessed the means for a munificent rer sponse. * The war memorial cpm- , mittee- allowed . that favourable time, to pass- and^ whatever the goodwill may be tdwards the ob- • ject to-day, available ' funds to wards..,. its 'iexpression must be seriously "■■• Still V at the meeting next week, it is hoped and expected the committee will band themselves together with the determination to raise as much moaey as possible, as soon as possible, so that the reproach • of carelessness, for^fetfulness, indifference, may no longer attach to Ashburton m this matter. It is a cause for which /the committee should be proud to appeal and to ask much, and it is a call to which all the people should respond generously. Ashburton should expect much of itself m erecting a soldiers' memorial and should exceed its own expectations. "We hope it maybe so and that the committee will find - its labours simplified when, at long last, it seriously approaches the task of obtaining subscrip- • tions. \ ; „, ' ■„

'The debt which we owe to ur soldiers" — what phrase has been more commonly on the lips of men m public and private life during the six years just past? And to-day,, m 1921, two years and two months since the signing of the Armistice, practically no effort has been made formally to acknowledge that debt m a practical fashion. Admittedly it is a debt that can never be repaid m full, but our sense of obligation should be placed permanently on record m a worthy memorial set up to the fallen heroes from this town and County. Spontaneity m giving should have distinguished the subscriptions to such a cause. We leave it to Ashburton to decide whether such has been the case. But if the grace of spontaneity has been denied this memorial, there is still time and opportunity to raise m remembrance a record m stone which will stand always as a tribute and a recognition to the sacrifices of our soldiers. The price of freedom is