MODEL OF THE NEW ZEALAND MEMORIAL.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18636, 10 March 1926, Page 11

MODEL OF THE NEW ZEALAND MEMORIAL.

TO THE EDITOE 0» "THE PBESS." Sir,—ln a local of to-day's issue, you refer to the model of the memorial which has been erected by the New Zealand Government at Longtieval, & nd state:—"lt has been cast in composition, wjth a great resemblance to granite." The value of the model, apart from the realisation of the form and lettering of the monument itself, is that it is cut out of the solid marble and shows exactly the kind 'of marble which has been used for all the New Zealand memorials in France and Belgium, including the sculpture at Le Quesuoy. It is an extremely beautiful marble'from the Nebrasina quarries the old Roman quarries—about three miles from Trieste, and has lasting qualities far beyond Carara aud other varieties. In the cemeteries at Trieste there are monuments made of this marble into which panels of Carara marble had been inserted for sculpture work. These had decayed sometimes beyond recognition, whereas the edges of the Xebrasina marble wero as sharp as the day they were erected, from seventy to eighty years ago. The modek which [ had previously forwarded to the Government, were of plaster, but I felt that the additional value of this one is that it shows the full beauty of the material of which the monuments are formed.—Yours, etc., S. HURST SEAGER. Christchurch, March 9th.