THE GREAT WAR.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20524, 18 April 1932, Page 8

THE GREAT WAR.

WELLINGTON'S MEMORIAL. DEDICATION CEREMONY. (PRCS* ASSOCIATION TH-FGBA¥ ) WELLINGTON, April 17. This afternoon tho Wellington Citizens' War Memorial was formally handed to tho city, at a dedication ceremony, attended in perfect weather by a large gathering. The parade included detachments of the New Zealand Naval Division, the Boyal Naval Voluntoer Reserve, the territorials, College cadSts, and returned soldiers. The Governor-General (Lord Bledisloe) and Lady Bledisloo wore present, and tho dedication was preformed by the Bishop of Wellington, Bishop Sprott. Among the speakers wore the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W..Forbes, and the Et. Hon. J, G. Coates, who proposed, that in accordance with the practice in London at the cenotaph, citizens should display homage by baring their heads as they passed the memorial. The suggestion was supported by Colonel H. F. Avery, president of the Keturned Soldiers' Association, and other speakers. Memorial's Motive. * It is interesting to recall what the designer had in mind when he submitted his plan of the memorial. "I® approaching tlio task presented for solution by the Wellington Citizens' War Memorial Committee," he wroto, "the author has striven to realise the hope of the eommitteo that this competition would produce a memorial which, by nobility of conception and perfection of execution, will symbolise the glory of tho mon of Wellington City and suburbs who gave their lives at tho call of the Empire." His aim has been to give concrete form to a groat ideal clothed in appropriate symbolism. "It has been assumed that there is no desire, first, to vaunt the fact of a victory on the field of battle, nor, | second, to dwell on the sacrifice of , young New Zealand lives given freely in a great cause, nor yet, in tho. third case, to lose sight of these first two factors by unduly stressing the measure of peace achieved. "It seems fitting that the facts of I tho war should be expressed by symbol. .... The concrete form of this symbolism would seem to call for an architectural composition, broad-based on the symbols of heroism, focused in the Shrine of sacrifice, and soaring upward to the inspiration and final achievement of the great ideal. In the two bas-relief panels on the walls flanking the central shrine it is intended as far as possible to depict every branch of tho New Zealand Forces, including a nursing sister and members of tho Maori race. There will also be a special panel depicting the war sacrifices of tho women of New Zealand—not only the nurses, but the wives, mothers, sweethearts, and others. The enriched band circling the base of tho shaft will be formed of shields emblazoned with the badges of the' Wellington Begiment. Supported in bronze sconces over tho door of the central shrine will be placed our national flags; the Union Jack in the eentre, and the New Zealand Ensign and Naval Ensign to left and right respectively."