MEMORIAL AT MESSINES.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 183, 4 August 1924, Page 5

MEMORIAL AT MESSINES.

UNVEILED BY KING ALBERT. THREE N.Z. GENERALS PRESENT Albert, King of the Belgians, to-day unveiled the memorial to the men of the N.Z. Tnfantry Division who fell at Messines on a commanding position on the brow of the hill overlooking the old front trenches. The panorama includes the historical battlegrounds. The gathering included General Sir Alexander Godley, Major-General AY. Braithwaite, and General Sir E. W. C. Chaytor, also Sir James Allen, High Commissioner for New Zealand, and Lady Allpn, and Sir George and Lady Fenwick, of Dunedin. The memorial was dedicated by the Rev. Frank Dunnage, of Christehurcli. King Albert expressed the Belgians' gratitude for the New Zealanders' valour I and generosity. I The ceremony was most impressive. The burgomaster undertook to have the monument kept in good condition. Sir James Allen placed a wreath on the memorial on behalf of New Zealand. He will to-morrow unveil the Gravenstafel memorial. — (Renter.) AT GRAVENSTAFEL. BURGOMASTERS TRIBUTE. (Received HU-JO n.ni.l LONDON, August 3. Sir James Allen unveiled the monu- ! ment to New Zealand troops at Graven- | stafel on Saturday, in the presence of visiting New Zealanders and all citizens and school children of Passchendaele. I The Burgomaster said the memorial would proclaim for centuries the high ' souls of the soldiers of New Zealand.— (A. and N.Z. Cable.) The memorial is in French, Flemish, and English: '"In honour of the men of j the New Zealand Division. The Battle of Messines, 7th to 14th of June, 1017." | Tt is overlooking the battlefield, and the j whole of the country which had been held j 'for weeks before the attack. Tn the dis- ! tance is Mount Kemmel, while about J MOO yards distant is the Au Bon Fermier Cabaret. Within a short distance is the Messines Ridge Cemetery, where the j names of 800 missing soßUers are to be commemorated. Sufficient land has been acquired to lay out a terrace and garden round the monument, which will doubtless prove the object of many a (pilgrimage in the days to come. i