Sedgemere-Taumutu Roll of Honour.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XXIV, Issue 4081, 11 June 1919, Page 3

Sedgemere-Taumutu Roll of Honour.

•* UNVEILING CEREMONY.

A very representative gathering filled the Sedgemere Hall on Saturday after- ' noon, the occasion being the unveiling of the Sedgemere-Taumutu Roll of Honour. The unveiling was preceded by a parade of returned soldiers, territor-1 : ials and cadets for review by Colonel; . ~ R. A. Ghaffey, officer commanding the 4A% Canterbury military district. Colonel Chaffey was accompanied by Major C. V. Leeming, M.C., and the other officers present were Major T. H. Overton and Captain J. Coe. Dr H. T. J. Thaeker, M.P., Mayor of Christchurch, attended to take part in the ceremony and was accompanied by the Mayoress and the Town Clerk (Mr ___.-■». Smith) and Mrs Smith. During the unveiling v ceremony the chair was occupied by Mr J. T. Parkin, chairman of the Hall Committee, Mr J. Cunningham, chairman of the Ellesmere County Council, was also present. The arrival of Sister F. Abbott, N.Z.A.N.S., was the signal r" for hearty cheers and Sister Abbott was given a seat on the platform. Proceedings opened with the National Anthem and there were songs by N Mrs Loehhead, and Misses Chamberlain, M. Henderson and Parkin. The chairman, after extending a welcome to the Mayor and Mayoress, and to Colonel Chaff ey and the other visitors and expressing pleasure at seeing so many people present, said that the names on the Roll of Honour were those of men who had gone to the front from Taumutu and Sedgemere and others who had been educated at the Sedgemere School. It was very appropriate -that the ceremony should be taking place on the second anniversary of the battle of Messines in which the New Zealanders had crowned themselves with glory. When they thought of what the boys had done they were all proud to know that they were Britishers. He had much pleasure in calling upon Colonel Chaffey to unveil the Roll of Honour. All present were aware of the splendid work the colonel had done ._„ ever since the. outbreak of war. He had been one of the busiest men in Canterbury and his one aim had been to do all he could o help win the war ; and to look after the interests of the wLj soldiers. ' Colonel Chaffey, who was greeted ' •with hearty hand clapping, thanked the chairman and the people for their cor- \ dial welcome. His presence that afternoon was explained by the fact that he was temporarily in command of the Canterbury military district. Being an ( elderly man he could not go to the war, but had tried to do his best in another -1 capacity. '< It has been my one aim and \ jflßt during the last 4$ years to help ; after this little country and to see that our boys went forward in/ a fit state to meet the foe," said Colonel Chaffey. "I regard it as one of the high est honours to be asked to unveil a Roll of Honour to the boys. No honour is !iat for the boys who have fought to save the Empire. It has been •y and trying time, and we have lk God that so many of the boys ming back to us in good health what they have been through." wed that this country could pronen equal in every way to the I any other country in the world. 1 not say that to pat New Zea--3 on the back; it was what every - io had been to the front was saytout our boys. And why was it because we lived in one of the little countries in the world. New id was one of the rich ripe plums Empire, ready to be plucked by ition that could do so. It was for true citizen to see that the plum apt on the tree. Every care must ;en to see that the children develr nto a strong, healthy race. The tion of men rejected for military 3 had been much greater than it be in such a fine country. Care >c taken that the children received ■ dental and medical treatment in school days and that physical ig was not neglected in any way. mental and moral training would 11 attended to by the school teachho were as fine a body of men and i as any country could wish 1o In doing honour to the boys they not forget the part the mother? le women generally had played to about victory. They had proved elves true Britishers. He had in the country for 41 years and something of the work the i had to do. He wanted to eomlt the women of the Sedgemere it upon what they had done for oys through the Lady Liverpool Red Cross organisations and in ways. The returned men said the New Zealanders were better for in the .matter of comforts home than any other soldiers, •arcels had helped very materially intain the stamina that had been ed to win through. Many of the ry men had served with the mounoi*ees in Egypt and Palestine, had done splendid work, proving he days of cavalry had not passed ,d been stated in some quarters, nveil this Roll of Honour in the of liberty, truth and justice, and 3 name of the boys we sent away ht for us and ours," said Colonel sy in conclusion, the people standrhile the Union Jack was drawn ; names om the board, which is a >ieee of workmanship, are: H. H. », H. K. Taiaroa, W. K. Maopo, C. 11 (killed), L. T. Mellraith, J. H.

Cannon, G Tairaroa (killed), J. Manning, P. Manning (killled), F. M. Strez (killed), W. Edwards, Dr P. G. McEvedy, R. C. Thian, W. Ritchie, F. H. Mellraith, AS. Thian, J. K. Leahy, E. W. Hannaford, A. J. McEvedy, C. H. Cooper, W. A. Cooper, R. E. Cooper, F. Linross, G. M. Ash, J. Robinson, F. Graham, T. A. Senafonti. The name of Sister Metherell, who gained a military decoration, has yet to be added. The chairman introduced Dr Thacker as the friend of the returned soldiers. There was need for someone to lo.ok after the interests of the men who had been away fighting. Even in the Ellesmere district they had seen where the Government had bought land for soldiers at nearly double its value. How the men were going to live he did not know. He hoped Dr Thacker would visit the country districts as often as he could. Frequent visits between town and country would help to bring about a better understanding. Dr Thacker was greeted with very hearty applause on rising to speak. He congratulated the people of Sedgemere upon their fine hall. It showed they were alive to the needs of their district. He felt highly honoured to have b.een asked to participate in the function that day, for he was proud of the men who had answered the Empire's call, proud of the parents who had sent their sons and prouder still of those who had gone west. Those men were not dead; their mates did not think of them as being dead. They had gone west, and there would be a happier meeting at some future epoch in our existence, "I can't throw any bouquets on the soldiers," said the doctor. Sir Douglas Haig had said that the New Zealanders who took part in the battle of Messines were equal to, if not better than, any other soldiers in the Allied armies. "We think of them as the great fine men that they are. I have only. done my ! duty to the returned soldiers as far as I was able. If I had been less red tape bound I would have done more, but I have been up against solid rock all the time. However, Providence has placed me in a position where I must be noticed, and I hope to do a great deal more for the men who have been to the front and all who belong to them ■ —their parents, wives, sisters and sweethearts.' ' The women of Sedgemere and other parts of the district had "played the game" all along. He knew of eases in the district where the women and girls had kept the farms together while the men were away at the front. (Applause.) Viscount Lord Jellicoe w^uld be paying a visit to Canterbury in the near future with New Zealand's battleship—' < our ship, remember — and he (Dr Thacker) wanted the country people to come into Christchurch and help to give the men a right royal time. The men on the New Zealand were men of the bulldog breed. For ' nearly five years the ship had cruised in the North Sea. She had been in three great fights and had come out safely. She had witnessed the sinking of the Queen Elizabeth and she had raced the Queen Elizabeth. "I want you to help us to give these men the time of their lives.'' He wanted to, say a word or two concerning the nurses who had gone to take care of the wounded men. (Cheers for Sister Abbott and the nurses generally.) , The nurses had been killed, gassed and torpedoed. When the Marquette was sunk the nurses did their best to save the lives of the other passengers. They had helped to save the lives of others even while in the water. When the survivors were picked up the aurses were asked to take some of the comforts offered, but they refused saying that the soldiers were to be cared for first. Dr Thacker went on to praise, the work of the. Maoris in the war. The Maoris had proved themselves a great -race of people. They had fought side by side with the European, deter-, mined to uphold the high ideals for which the British Empire stood and for which the Allies fought so tenaciously. They had fought and shed their blood as brothers and were worthy of the greatest respect and admiration. I The question of repatriation referred to by the chairman was a very important matter. Instead of putting the men on the land in a proper manner and giving them a chance the Government was tying a mortgage around the necks of most of the men that would remain there all their lives. It was a scandalous thing that men had to pay one. and a half times over for land in the country and for homes in tho towns. He urged the people to bring pressure to bear upon their representatives in Parliament, so that the men would get a fair deal. He wanted to thank the Sedgemere people for inviting the visitors out from town for that day's ceremony. They would 'be glad to come

out again if they were wanted at any time. Dr Thacker concluded by presenting, at the chairman's request, gold medals to the following soldiers or their next-of-kin: George Taiaroa (handed to grandmother), H. Taiaroa (absent, also handed to grandmother), G. McGill (handed to father), J. Teihoka, W. K. Maopo, W. Edwards (handed to father in the soldier's absence). The medal for the late Private F. M. Strez had not come to hand in time for presentation to his relatives that day but would be presented later on. Cheers were given for the returned men on the call of Dr Thaeker Mr J. Cunningham thanked the chairman for invitftig him to be present at the ceremony that afternoon. He felt proud to join with them in honouring the boys who had served the Empire so faithfully. After 4J years of storm and stress, freedom and liberty were again assured to the world. The English language was still to be the predominant language. If our language and literature were to predominate in the future then the English speaking races must see to it that the ideals of their ancestors- were the ideals of the . future. Those ideals were founded on justice, liberty and righteousness and 'so long as they were maintained and upheld there need be no anxiety as to the future. There had been great nations before in the history of the world • •■ but they had fallen because their ideals were not those for which the British j Empire stood today. It was not our business to exploit the peoples placed j under our care, but to uplift them and _ help to develop the resources of their \ countries. It should never be forgotten that eternal" vigilance was the price we had to pay for our plaice in the sun. • No empire ever existed that had given , other nations a fairer deal than Britain had done. He did not know whether ' it was a coincidence or not, but it struck him as a fine thing that the first four names on the Roll of Honour unveiled ' that day were those of members of the Maori race. It was a generous and very worthy tribute "to pay to a race that hao! stood to us in our time of stress and whose sons had fought side by side with our own boys. The men who had fought to defend the country were the men upon whom the. responsibility of governing it would now fall, and he was satis- ' fied that our destinies were safe in their hands. Mr Cunningham touched briefly " upon the question of a war memorial. He was anxious, he said, to see something done to perpetuate the memory of all the boys who left the Ellesmere . county by the erection of a county war memorial. The question would come : before the Taumutu and Sedgemere' residents in the near future and he hoped they would give the proposal '. their careful consideration and help to < do something that would be in every way worthy of the boys. He wished to ' take the opportunity of according a hearty welcome to Dr Thacker and Mrs Thacker on the occasion of their first visit to the district as Mayor and May- ' oress. He congratulated the doctor upon having become' one of the most prominent public men in Canterbury, i The Mayor had won out through sheer pluck and perseverance and would make hisrmark on the life of Canterbury before he laid down the reins of office. Dr Thacker acknowledged the wel- „ come accorded the Mayoress and him- j self, and at his request the people stood in silence for a space as a mark of res- , pect to the memory of the fallen soldiers, j Afternoon tea concluded a very successful function, and the Christchurch visitors departed amidst rousing cheers from the people. j