TRIBUTE TO OLD BOYS.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 3231, 26 June 1928, Page 3

TRIBUTE TO OLD BOYS.

"While we do not wish to perpetual war in any shape or form, nor do we wish to glorify it—God forbid that we should do so—we do feel that the "memory of those who sacrificed * their lives and gave their services for their country should be kept ever green,'' said one of the speakers at the unveiling of the Southbridge School Roll of Honour last Eridav afternoon.

It was with a desire to keep afresh in the memory throughout the years the proud record made by the old boys of Southbridge School in the Great War that an Honours Board bearing their names was placed in the school soon after the titanic conflict had closed. This first board was destroyed in the old school fire, but the householders determined to make good its loss by providing a new board. Several additions were made to the names, and it is believed that the present Roll of Honour contains an accurate list of all Southbridge old .pupils who rendered

war service. At the unveiling ceremony, which

was performed by. Mr D. Jones, M.P., the pupils, past pupils, and parents, assembled in front of the entrance porch, from where speeches were delivered. Thro were also present representatives from neighbouring school committees, from the Canterbury Education Board, and other interested bodies. A fortunate change in the weather made the outdoor gathering possible.

Mr A. McPherson, chairman of the School Committee, expressed pleasure at seeing so large an assemblage, and read apologies for absence from the Hon. Sir Heaton Rhodes, M.L.C., Mr W. P. Spencer, a member of the Can terbury Education. Board, Mr T. E. McMillan, of Matamata, an old pupil, and from the president of the Returned Soldiers' Association. HISTORY OF THE BOARD. Mr A. J. Inwood, chairman of the Old Pupils' Committee, outlined the work of the committee in procuring the new board. The old School Committee, he said, had evidently had such great faith in the old school that they did not realise that such a blessing in disguise as a fire could fall upon it, with the result that they did not insure the Honours Board. As a consequence, the Old Pupils' Committee had to begin from scratch in the raising of funds, When a sufficient amount in subscriptions hail been collected, designs had been invited, and eventually one submitted by Strange and Co. accepted. Mr Inwood acknowledged various

forms of assistance received in connexion with the completion of the board. DOMINION'S LOYALTY. In a speech preceding the- unveiling, Mr Jones .said that the district was to be congratulated, after the loss of the first Honours Board, upon providing a second one, which it was hoped would remain as a permanent memorial. "When the war broke out," he said, "New Zealand was, amongst the Dominions, the first to offer its men to the Empire. About ten per cent, of the people of New Zealand were actually trained, and a" large majority of them were sent overseas. We can remember still that our enemies thought that, when the war broke out, we should be glad, and the other Dominions would be glad, of the opportunity of breaking loose from the Mother Country. How different it was! It will still be keen in your memories how, from every part of the Empire went out' that offering of men in order to assist the Mother Country and ourselves in the work of keeping our country free. In that four and a half years, we were hammered on the anvil of conflict and the Empire was welded into one united whole in a way that probably nothing else in history could have accomplished. We remember how our opponents thought that the Old Land would fall because she was decaying, and was not expected to stand up against modern warfare, but we remember also the millions of men that were put into the battlefield and the magnificent fighting that was done by the soldiers of the Empire. To-day when we remember the men from our own district, let us think for a moment of the Old Contemptibles avlio did such magnificent work in stemming the tor-

rent of their enemies right from the beginning. Deeds as great as the charge of the Light Brigade, immortalised in verse, wore done practically every day in the history of the late war. It was the fact that we were satisfied that the British nation was fighting in the interests of justice and truth that enabled us to hold to the end. The Honours Board we are unveiling to day is one of the myriads of such mementoes throughout the Empire to the soldiers of the late war. In this land we still hold in grateful remembrance the great service rendered by our soldiers. The people of England paid a magnificent tribute to them, and as to their courage, it is not

necessary to say more than was expressed by General Hamilton, when he wrote of the men of Gallipoli that they were 'winning Victoria Crosses every one of them.' We remember that nearly 17,000 men were buried

overseas, and wc live in peace and prosperity in New Zealand to-day because of the achievements of the men who have fought and fallen for our freedom and our lives."

Addressing the boys and girls, Mr Jones asked them, when they saw the Honours Board from day to day, to letit remind them of their King, their Flag and their Empire, and of what the men whose names it bore had done for the Empire. He urged them to show their loyalty to King and Country and to hold the freedom that those men had won for them. It was hoped that they would know nothing of war in the future, but he was satisfied that if the occasion arose, they would do their duty just as nobly as those who had gone before them.

Air .Jones unveiled the Roll of Honour and the assembly stood while the Last Post was sounded by Buglers Ray mond Bishop and Cordon Millar, of the Ellesmere Brass Band.

said he was glad to know that the people of Southbridge had had the board replaced. There was a sentiment abroad to-day that the time had come when memorials of the war should be destroyed. He did not believe that the people of Southbridge, and of New Zealand generally, would subscribe to any such sentiment as that, not that they desired to perpetuate war nor to glorify it, but they believed that the memory of those who sacrificed their lives and who gave their services for their country should be kept ever green. We were all desirous that there should be no more war, and the British Empire was taking a lead in that direction. He believed that since the last Great War the world had approached nearer to the millenium, but that did not prevent us from remembering those who made the great sacrifice. He had a very definite feeling, and he thought it was shared by the people of New Zealand as a whole, that we should perpetuate our gratitude to the men and women who served in the Great War, which Britain believed to be a war of righteousness. If it should happen again that the oppressor tried to put. his heel upon the necks of the weaker nations, he for one still hoped that Great Britain would still pose as the protector of the weak. He congratulated the people of Southbridge upon re-erecting a magnificent Honours Board to show their gratitude of the deeds of the men from that district.

ANZACS' HEROISM

Mr W. A. Banks, another member of the Education Board, apologised for the absence of the chairman, Mr C. S. Thompson. He commended the people of Southbridge for the interest they had taken and the work they had done