ON VIMY RIDGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 59, 10 March 1936, Page 5

ON VIMY RIDGE.

CANADA'S MEMORIAL.

TO BE UNVEILED IN JULY,

KING EDWARD MAY GO

(By a Special Correspondent)

(By Air Mail.) LONDON, February 15

The great Canadian memorial on Virny Ridge, France, will be unveiled 011 July 20. It is hoped that the Jving, who spent several months with the Canadians in France during the war, will be present. It was expected that the memorial, which has cost about £200,000, and is one of the largest of all the war memorials, would have been completed five years ago. The long delay has been largely caused by the difficulties encountered in obtaining the 7000 to 8000 tons of stone from a quarry in Yugoslavia. The Canadian sculptor, Mr. Walter S. Alhvard, who lias just completed his giant task, said that this stone was selected after a long search, because it was essential to have a hard, enduring stone in view of the proximity of the Leiis coalfields. The parchment coloured stone comes from an old Roman quarry which, supplied the stone used in the early fourth century for the Palace of Diocletian, in Spalato. The blocks averaged from four to 25 tons. Mr. Alhvard is leaving for France in a fortnight's time to superintend the preparing of the work for the unveiling. Some of the scaffolding has already beeu removed. His design won for him the award of the Canadian Battlefields' Memorial Commission. Th® competition was open to all British Empire. The massive monument is on top o£ the ridge 'which was .captured by Canada on April 12, 1917. antl stands in 240 acres given to Canada by France. Two striking pylons, a few feet apart and 138 ft high, rise from the liuge br.se— 237 ft in length. The pylons represent

the Canadian and French forces, and between them is a sculptured group, representing the Spirit of Sacrifice. Higher up and rising to the top are figures symbolising Peace, Justice, Truth and Knowledge. The figure of Canada stands 011 the wall, and at the base at either end are Defenders. "I. have aimed at an artistic memorial," said Mr. Alhvard. "The space between the pylons might suggest a glimpse of the Great Beyond." The names of the 11,500 missing Canadian soldiers have been inscribed in lettering large enough to be read some distance away. A caretaker's lodtre has been built in the style of an old French house, with a look-out disguised as a dovecote. Mr. Alhvard worked in a large cage studio enclosing the pylons. I