TO THE FALLEN.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18801, 20 September 1926, Page 10

TO THE FALLEN.

BANDSMEN'S MEMORIAL ROTUNDA. OPENING CEREMONY. The Bailsmen's Memorial Rotunda u In the Botanic Gardens, the farst 1 memorial in New Zealand erected to v the memory of bandsmen who fell in the war., was opened by Sir 11. Hcaton t Rhodes Yesterday afternoon. <1 The flavor (Mr J. K. Archer) pro- t sided, and there were also on the t rotunda Lady Rhodes. Lieut-Colonel I Toms. Major R, A. Row, the City Coun- , fillers. Messrs G. Harper (chairman of s the Christohurch Domains Board), Mr ; W. F. Hilson, Mr R. B. Owen., and Mr T. F. Hal! (secretary to the South , Island Bands Association). The guard of lujnour was provided hv the. C.Y.C, and tho >"*> ls ™ liand. Derry's Military Band, the Umstchureli Municipal Band the Band of the Ist Canterbury Regiment, the Scottish Society's Pipe H™*'™* tho Caledonian Society s I'ipc Band were in attendance. The collection taken at the b atte reached the total of £73 lis be , uhich was very creditable, considering the unsettled nature, of tho weather. In declaring the rotunda open, Sir R. Hcaton Rhodes expressed Jus appreciation of being again with the work. Some time ago he had In id the foundation, stone and no* he had tho honour of declaring tho rotunda open. He cpngrat .ulated the chairman of the fund and all a»o - atcd with him that the labours were now risible ?" d ™ m P f*• The rotunda had been built to last, and he was sure that it would outlive v wlio were present at the.faction, and, he hoped, many genera*,ous to come. All gave honour to the braie men in whose memory the rotunda was erected, but time passed and »emone> grew dim, and for this reason t a richt that there should be something o bring to mind their fortitude and theii courage. Mm, pr-«t could remember Delville Longuevi le Hig Wood and Goose Alley, so well known to men of the Canterbury Those were days dearly paid for and in that time one hundred officeis ana thro thousand of other ranks were killed. Wherever there was fighting Sere were the bandsmen.and the memorial was erected not onlyJ» bandsmen as bandsmen, but to bandsmen as stretcher-bearers. He calkd to mind a storv told him by General ytor of how the latter had seen tio y bandsmen acting .« bearers in the thick of tho fighting examining every alien man to see whether lives could be saved.Those men had been sought to give them the honour that was their due but they were not to be found and piobaoiy vere numbered among the, missing. There were five I™*"*" dred bandsmen in tho fields of 1 ranee, and wherever men were on the march, or in camp, hospital, or bivouac they did their duty cheering their com-

'"The speaker referred to the.New i Zealand memorials in France, Egypt, and on Gallipoli. The memorial! on the Mount of Olives was* not,yet ■ erected, but that was to come. Every city ana almost-evorv town in New Zealand had its mlmorfcl. but. this was the first erected to the memory of men, and it did honour to Christchurch that it should erect the first. The memorial was thendeolared open; and the National Anthem was pl F e ifowing the ceremony, selections „«■« nlavld bv the Woolston Band. Kv' Band, Vistchurch Municipal BaS and the Band of the Ist Canterbury Regiment.