BATTLE MEMORIALS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 14, 17 July 1922, Page 5

BATTLE MEMORIALS

PROGRESS OF THE WOKK

THREE TO BE FINISHED BY

SEPTEMBER

FRENCH AND GALLIPOLI

MONUMENTS.

(FROM OUK OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 2nd June.

Before the end of the summer the New Zealand monuments at Gallipoli, at Le Quesnoy, and at Longueval should he finished, and possibly an official unveiling of the French memorials will take place in September. The Belgian authorities are slow to move and the protracted negotiations for acquiring .the sites at Gravenstafel and Messines are still proceeding. If the land is not acquired very shortly it will be' impossible to complete these memorials this summer. Mr. S. Hurst Seager, the architect for the memorials, is now preparing the j working drawings for the monuments in Belgium. In this he is assisted by Mr. Stanley Natusch, of Wellington,' a New Zealand Expeditionary Force Scholarship holder, who has already distinguished himself in architectural competitions. Mr. A. R. Fraser, the sculptor, has done the modelling for the Le Quesnoy table!, so that three New Zealanders are thus engaged on the important work for the Dominion Government. Working drawing for the monument at Gallipoli have been prepared, and the firm of contractors who are employed by the Imperial War Graves Commission for their work in the cemeteries in that area have been asked to submit a price for the monument. They, of course, are in the test possible position to act and to carry out the contract economically, as they have opened out quarries and have arrangements for transport. The monument will be in white limestone from the Ulgan Dere quarries. This is a considerable distance from the various sites and the -stone has to be sent down to tho seaboards, and carried in barges to the various points oh the coast which are nearest to the work in hand. The nearest point for Chunuk Bair memorial will be Kelia Bay, where the War Graves headquarters are sitrrated. The monument -will be 45ft in height, 18ft 6in at the base, and 12ft 6in at the top. As earthquakes have occurred in this district, every precaution has been taken by reinforcement to guard against any damage being done. Care has been taken in the design to get the greatest amount of superficial area for the least expense of material so that the monument is easily visible from the Narrows, which are the main course of traffic for Con-stantinople.-1 The nearest point where the steamers turn."in the Narrows is about five miles. On the Aegean side the stone will stand ■ out with great boldness, as the shore, is only 1500 yards away. If a satisfactory tender is received it will be possible to at once accept it and arrange that the work shall be completed in the late autumn. A GREAT UNDERTAKING AT LE QUESNOY. It will be remembered that the scheme at Le Quesnoy is quite an elaborate one. From the Place D'Arme, in the centre of the town, an avenue, entered through an ancient gateway, .leads to the walls. The pathway circles the inside of one of the projecting ramparts, and finds exit through the wall, across a causeway, and so on to an island outside the walls. On the wall facing the island and not many feet from where the New Zealanders placed their ladder, the plaque, depicting the scaling of the wall and an overshadowing figure of victorious Peace, is to be placed. The preparation of ths ground, the penetration of the wall] the building of the causeway, the planting of the trees, and the necessary turfing has been, a big undertaking, and through the winter, has occupied twelve men for nearly three months. Mr. Hurst Seager was at Le Quesnoy for the greater part of the time. v All the excavation work and the formation of the approach through the fortification, the archway and pathway, and the causeway formed from the material taken from the cutting have now been completed. The garden upon the island which forms the point of view for the memorial has also been made. On the island will be a marble balustrade from which an excellent view of the sculpture at a distance of 40ft across the moat will be obtained. The whole of the gardening and turfing work has been carried out in a most satisfactory manner by the i Imperial War Graves Commission gardeners under the general direction of Captain Parker, Horticultural Officer of the War Graves Commission in France, and Mr. Gill, the Divisional Horticultural Officer at Arras. A SEVERE WINTER TASK. I The work was done under trying circumstances, said Mr. Hurst Seager, but it has been brought to a satisfactory conclusion and in a most economical way. At times 18 degrees of frost were registered, and in between the frosts there were heavy rains. The weather thus made the turfing yery difficult. By the kind permission of the authorities in charge of the fortifications, the turf was obtained from other localities round the outside of the walls. Many thousands of sods had to be placed in position and staked down to .prevent the rain and frost from displacing them. Inside, the walk were supported by a buttress of earth. had to be cut through to expose the wall, which is 30ft high and 9ft thick at the top. Bastions are built against the wall at an interval of every eight feet, and between two of these bastions the wall has been penetrated and the archway formed. The brickwork is in varying tones of colour with streaks of yellow mortar, and presents.a most artistic appearance. In order to preserve the colouring the brickwork has been sprayed, with a petrifying liquid, and the bricks used to build up the archway were chosen to harmonise with the general colour scheme. "AVENUE D'HONNEUR DES NEOrELANDAIS." Over the entrance to the avenue leading from the Place D'Arme is to be erected a plaque 4ft by 2ft, bearing the inscription, "Avenue d'Honneur dcs NeoZelandais." The avenue itself, which leads through pleasant surroundings, has been developed and planted with addi : tional trees, and the sides of the approach to the archway in the wall have here been turfed. Once through the archway the path runs over the causeway built across the moat. The sides of the causeway are turfed, and the island to which it leads has been planted with trees and .shrubs. Between the island and the wall runs a small stream, and the moat itself has been turned1 into a garden. The plants bo far as possible 1 are New Zealand shrubs,, but very few New Zealand trees will stand the climate. The best representative trees of the Allies are, therefore, used. Dr. Hill, <*f Kew Gardens, very kindly supplied a list of New Zealand plants which are likely to thrive in France, and Dr. Dyke Acland, of Somerset, who takes a very great interest in the cultivation of New Zealand flora, has very kindly given a large number of New Zealand shrubs, including some hundred Arunda Conspicua, better known as toi-toi. Some 250 veronicas have been planted, including twelve varieties, and a large number of olearias. Ribbonwood, too, is to he tried, and manuka might grow ir the sheltered position in thii mutit. torn Kew Gardens came a prcaont oi 67 plants,

so that- with these and what have been given by Mr. Dyke Acland, the cost of procuring plants has been very small indeed. DISTINGUISHED FRENCH SCULPTOR. The marble block on which the memorial is to be out has left Trieste, but it has not yet reached its destination. As already stated, the model is by ■Mr. A. R. Fraser, and it will be cut in the marble by M. Felix Desruelles, who, this year, has three very fine pieces of sculpture in the Salon, and in his hands people may be confident that a highly artistic work will be produced. Surrounding the marble plaque will be a dark stone acting as a gradation in colouring from the brick oi' the wall to the mnrble. On this will be carved the inscriptions. On the left will be the words: "En l'honneur dcs hommes de la Nouvelle Zelande, grace a la valeur desquels la ville de Le Quesnoy fut rendue a la France, le 4. Novembre, 1918." And on the right: "In honour of the men of New Zealand, through whose valour the town of Le Quesnoy ■ was restored to France, 4th November,' 191o\" Inside the balustrade of the terrace (below the plaque in the line of vision) will be inscribed the words : "From the uttermost ends of the earth." It has been very gratifying to see the manner in which the people of Le Quesnoy have shown their appreciation of what New Zealand is doing. The work during its progress was watched with the greatest interest, and they regard it as a sacred undertaking which is carried out in honour of the men who saved their tjpwn, and for the benefit of those whom they rescued. It is considered there will be no need to fence the garden in, as the council and the people are extremely anxious to protect it. The High Commissioner has sent a letter to tho Mayor for forwarding to the heads of schools\in the town, pointing out the necessity of impressing on their scholars that all that New' Zealand has done at Le Quesnoy is in honour of the men who restored the town to France—men who made great sacrifices in coming 13,000 miles in order that they might take part in this great work. If a code of honour were established, he thinks, the necessity for enclosing the gardens would disappear. The well-wooded space in the moat, however, will be fenced in. LONGUEVAL MONUMENT. At Longueval the memorial will stand on the high ground, and will be easily seen from the whole of the surrounding villages and from the roads leading to them. The monument itself has a diameter of 23ft, and the encircling railinirs will have a diameter of 46ft. Outsi de the railings there is to be a 14ft Toad, and encircling the road a plantation 14ft wide. , Roads in the district are still in a de- j plorable condition, and it is only re-! cently that they have been able to repair the last mile sufficiently to bring a traction engine along. The 120 tons of stone are arriving at Albert; and are now being transported the remaining twelve kilometres by motor-lorries. Concrete foundations have already been put down—not without difficulty, for it was found that in one place the soil had been so disturbed by shell explosion that the foundations had to sjo down nine feet. Old war material has been used for reinforcing the concrete. The marble for the monument is from the Nebresina quarries at Trieste, and it has been shaped and carved in the quarries. BRIDGE AND INSCRIPTIONS. ' Besides the inscriptions on the stone, there will be in the front the New Zealand badge now being used on the headstones. Around this will be carved a wreath of laurels, contained within a square panel, with a border of conventional Maori ornament. The model for this was executed by Mr. Fraser. On the front face of the obelisk the inscription will read: "In honour of the men of the New Zealand Division. First Battle of the Somme, 1916." On the re-! verse side the came inscription will be written in French. On the side will be written: "The New Zealand Division, after gaining this position as their first objective, launched from it the successful attack on Flers, 15th September, 1916." . On the reverse side will be the same words in French. Careful consideration was given by the High Commissioner to these words, owing to the fact that another Division—the 31st—took part in the attack on Flers, and actually entered part of the village before the New Zealanders, but the north-western part of the village was in the line of tihe attack of the Dominion troops. Both General Sir A. J. Godley and General Edmonds, who is in charge of the Historical Records Department, agreed that no exception could be taken to the inscription. At the base of the monument in front will be: "From the uttermost ends of the earth." On the reverse, the same in French: "Dcs confine les plus recules de la terre." It is honed that this monument, together with that at Le Quesnoy. will be ready for unveilin? in September.