MEMORY OF FALLEN

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 178, 31 July 1933, Page 5

MEMORY OF FALLEN

AVENUE OF TREES. AUCKLAND TO WELLINGTON. SOUTHERN SUGGESTION. "I know I am an incurable heroworshipper," said Mr. William Toomath, secretary of the Early Settlers and Historical Association of Wellington, to a representative of "The Dominion," but I am also a great lover of trees, and welcome the revival of Arbor Day in New Zealand. "What I would like to see done, and in my opinion it is not at all an extravagant* idea, is to plant an avenue of trees

all the way from Wellington to Auckland, say 50 or even 100 feet apart, as a living memorial to the men who fell in the Great War.

"There is no reason why every New Zealander who sacrificed his life should not bo meinoralised by a tree. That would be done t>y extending the avenue from Picton to the Bluff in the South Island. It only needs the co-operation of the local bodies and schools in eachdistrict with the Forestry Department.

"I suggest trees as a memorial to o\ir bravo fellows, as they are Nature's own beautiful adornment to this lovely earth of ours," said Mr. Toomath. "Because they would be a perpetual reminder to the children growing up who know nothing of the travail of war. By the year of our centenary (1040) these trees—each district would select trees indigenous to its latitude and soil —would be well grown, and to all visitors would be as remarkable a memorial as though they extended from Land's End to John o' Groats in England.