DEVONPORT WAR MEMORIAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 115, 16 May 1924, Page 7

DEVONPORT WAR MEMORIAL.

s CUSTODY OF THE MONUMENT. THE FINAL CEREMONY. The final meeting of the Devonport War Memorial Committee took place in Ford's Rooms last night, when there was a crowded attendance of members and their friends. The Mayor presided, and explained that the meeting was held to finally dispose of all matters in which the Memorial Committee was concerned, and to hand over to the borough council the formal custody of the bronze monument recently unveiled by the GovernorGeneral, Lord Jellicoe, in Marine Square, He called on Crs. Little and Aldridge to receive on behalf of the council all the documents and historical records in connection with the memorial, also a parchment, signed by all the members of the committee, Betting forth the conditions under which it was hoped the council would safely guard the welfare of the memorial, and expressing the hope that the people would never again have to erect a memorial for such a purpose as that caused by the ravages of war. The ceremony was a deeply impressive one, and Messrs. Little and Aldridge made most impressive replies in accepting the safe custody of the memorial on behalf of the people, making mention of the fact that the memorial would endure many generations far beyond our own time as an emblem to the memory of those who had fought for the world's freedom, and a reminder that Truth, Justice, and Freedom shall not perish from the earth. The memprial was indeed the symbol of a great ideal, and was the emblem of the greatest romance of all time. After the formal ceremony the meeting resolved itself into a social function, and a lengthy musical programme was gone through, those contributing being the. Misses Wilson and Bagnall, Mrs. Richards, and Messrs. Kennings, Sparrow and Perry Taylor. Mr. Lillicrap presided at the piano. During the evening Mr. W. K. Howitt presented Mr. R. A. Spinley, on behalf of .the members of the committee, with a silver fruit and cake dish as a token of their esteem for the splendid way he had carried out the duties as secretary over a long period on the Memorial Committee. His work as organiser of the final ceremony had come in for special praise from Lord Jellicoe. Mr. Spinley feelingly replied, and said he would treasure the memento while he lived. Mr. John Henderson then presented the treasurer, Mr. J. Kew Harty, with a silver entree dish, suitably inscribed, for his excellent work in conserving the funds and bis manifold efforts on behalf of tbe War Memorial. Mr. Harty in his reply paid a warm tribute to the work of the whole of the members of the committee with whom he had been associated all the time. His work, like Mr. Spinley's, had been a labour of love. The donation of £25 given by Messrs. McNab and Mason, the contractors for the base of the memorial, had made him a happy man, for it ■ had just squared accounts.