BATTLE MEMORIALS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 140, 14 June 1924, Page 7

BATTLE MEMORIALS

ROAD DIFFICULTIES AT GRAVENSTAPEL

WORK AT MESSINES AND

GALLIPOLI

UNVEILING CEREMONY IN JUNE.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, Ist May. . After spending the winter in the South of France, Mr. and Mrs. S. Hurst Seager have returned to Ypres, where Mr. Seager is occupied with the work in connection with the New Zealand battle memorials at Graveustafel and Messines. "You will be pleased to hear," writes Mr. Seager to. the High Commissioner, "that the work is now progressing satisfactorily. The engineer has set gut the roadway at Gravenstafel and the contractor is now setting out the stone edging to the path and roadway. The trees for Graveustafel have been shipped. The roadway leading to the monument lias not been touched, and is in a very bad state. Perhaps a letter from you to the proper authorities would have "the desired effect..

"Here the authorities are so divided that there is no one person who could dhectly" give instructions. It is a Government road, and will be made as a whole from Ypres to Roulers. There is no sign yet of this being done. We cannot get a car'up at present. It is not sufficiently dried out, and the ehell holes ars very deep and full of mud. "At Messines we have started two Belgian workers making up the soil which has subsided during the winter, so that all the beds will be ready for planting this next week. The trees are ordered and will be dispatched as soon as possible. Captain Parker 'tells mo that as long as these bitter winds last planting would be impossible, so that we have lost no time. I shall have the contractor for the stone edging similar to that at Gravenstafel at'work shortly. The stone for the steps and the paving of the monument has not yet left Trieste, as it has been impossible to get a vessel from there to Antwerp. The French occupation of the Ruhr make 3it impossible for the stone to come by train. "It is early yet to suggest any date for unveiling, but I hope that the work will be completed by the end of May or the beginning of June." A later letter from Mr. Seager to the effect that the utmost is being done to get the Gravenstafel road put on the list for -early treatment. "The trouble is," says Mr. Seager, "that the Governmeut lias no money.' On a recent Sunday there was a demonstration or I 20,000 people representing 61 communes |of the Ypres salient to demand that a loan should be raised in order that the work of reconstruction may proceed." He assures Sir James Allen, however, that if the weather happens to be dry for the unveiling there will be no difficulty in getting cars up to the monument." IMPRESSIONS OF G-ALLIPOLI. Mr. Seager has lately been to ' Gal- I lipoli, and his visit was one of the first to be made under the new Turkish regime. He spent four days at Chanak. In a detailed letter to N the High Commissioner he reports that the New Zea- : .land monument there is in full view over Helia Bay, from Chanak and the 'offing where the vessels anchor. The anchorage is about 8£ miles distant from the monument, and the vessels (on leaving for Constantinople) proceed northward to a point about 5£ miles distant; they then turn sharply to the east, and (it a•' point 30 minutes after leaving Cbanak the monument is hidden by Kelia Tape Bluff for five minutes; then it • comes into view again, up the Boghali Valley, for another five minutes, making a total of 35 minutes that the monument is in view from the time of starting from Chanak. From the sea on the , opposite side of the peninsula the monument stands out boldly. Here the distDnce from the shore is only three miles, but there is little traffic on that side —only occasional trading vessels crossing to the Island of Lemnos', and to tue northern towns in the Gulf of Saros.

On the day of his arrival at Chanak th? .kills -were covered with mist, but on the day of Iris departure they were clearly defined and the monument could be easily seen, not only from the deck o; the vessel lying out in the offing, but also from the town itself. By "easily seen" Mr. Seager means that it can be seen at a glance without searching for it, even on a dull day, when it appears as a dark mass against the sky and the visibility is not affected by the form of the plan. When the sun is shining it stands out brightly as a white mass against the relatively dark sky. Unfortunately, it was impossible to obtain a photograph .illustrating visibility at lon™ distance with the ordinary camera. It would need a telescopic camera to produce the effect of any very distant object on the eye. It is only a mile away, yet can be only faintly discovered in the photograph. It is to be hoped that when a professional photographer visits Gallipoli at the completion of the work he will be provided with a camera, which will reproduce exactly the natural effect. The plan is in the form of a Greek cross, with the re-entrant angles filled with splayed faces forming tho sides of a hollow square central block. The buttresses forming the arms of the cross face nearly to the cardinal points, and, therefore, whenever the sun is shining the southern buttress, is illuminated dating the day and throws its shadow in the morning» on the inner part of the side of the western buttress, and the adjacent splayed face; in the afternoon, on the corresponding part, of the eastern buttress. Therefore, at all times of the day, except mid-day, a contrasting shadow is created within the bright outline of the whole monument.

If the faces of the buttresses were vertical, one-half of the monument would be in shadow, except, between the hours 9.30 and 2.30, but being considerably inclined the shadow of any point is thrown well within the lower projecting surface.

"I am of opinion that the intention' of the designer is thus realised," says Mr. Seager, "the visibility of the monument is increased. Not only can if, be seen on approach as above stated, but from the road leading to Helles at a point eleven miles away. It can, in fact, be seen from any point on the Peninsula, or the sea, at which the outline of the Sari Bair range itself can be distinguished. VISIT TO THE MONUMENT. "I visited our monument, accompanied by Colonel Hughes and Mr. Mildenhall, the New Zealand Inspector of Works, under whose immediate care the monument has been erected. I found that the work has been carried out in a very excellent manner. All the stones a white compact limestone from the Lnger Dcre quarry—were of the quality of the sample submitted with the estimate. They hud all been worked truly, and I was specially pleased with th(' execution of tho 'entasis'—the curved laws of the bmtreseee. The angles

were truly -wrought to the exact curve shown on the drawings, and the surfaces of the stones had been given the require ed 'rock face'; in fact, the specification, m this respect had been liberally interpreted—more labour had been expended than could have been demanded from an unwilling contractor. The effect of the treatment of the • stonework is very good. As work of this kind can be so differently treated under the same spe* cification by the individual workman, it shows a careful supervision that the uniform effect has been maintained throughout. The surface is bold enough'-'-' to give the necessary play of light.and" "' shade without the crudeness that a' ~ rougher rock face would have created.■ ;-.'•■• ■Ine base courses only are of the- •-■■ rougher type, and give the.appropriate feeling of rugged strength to the whole of the sub.-structure. Those portions of tiiodes,ign which were specified to be rubbed smooth have been all truly worked. _IJie Nebrasina marble had been inserted but the lettering had not been cut, ihis panel had been specified to be^pohshed, but I found that polishing had made it too dark—too great a con- ' trast with the whiteness of the surround- " ' ing stonework. I therefore ordered ' vxs polish to be removed and the sur- ■ taco laft as those of our monuments m France and Belgium. The surface will ': still be slightly darker than the cut surface of. the lettering-the contrast enabling & i 0 be easily read. The! letterimg.had not been done.because Mr. Marr, the New Zealand assistant architect in charge of all the work on the Peninsula, considered that the .specimen on the cuttings submitted to him were not satisfactory. The contractors have now obtained the expert cutter from Trieste, who cut the lettering on our monuments in France and Belgium. We can be confident, , therefore, that it will be well done. ' ' EFFECTS OF FROST. "Just before my arrival there had ■■■ been experienced on the Peninsula ten days of frost. It was twenty-two degrees below freezing point at sea level. 1 am glad to be able to say that our monument has not been affected.to any..,.."■ great extent. Only two stones, as far " as we could see, had been split, but the" weather was still too severe to permit the erecting of a ladder for me to exam- , me the topmost stones. This will be ' done by the inspector, and any "split : ones Will be replaced by sound ones in accordance -with the conditions of the , contract.

EFFECT OF FRONT ON NEWLY-CUT STONES. -

"The frost had a disastrous effect upon the newly-cut stonework Ser.lous damage was done to the large quantity of worked stone stacked ready for Thng T c, Cape Helles Memorial. Ihroughont the cemeteries those stones, which had been taken from the quarries before the beginning of the summer, were not affected—the quarry can had had time to dry out. It can, theretore be confidently expected when the spin, stones are replaced, and all the stones have become seasoned, jso further damage will-be done. Unfortunately, the " contractor has had to bear a heavy loss. In this connection I may mention that" - throughout France and 'Belgium stones-.: had suffered which were considered from" the experience, of many years to be a-bso^ lutely frost-proof. VISIT.TO THE CEMETERIES-CAPET ' HELLES MONUMENT. ' "Colonel Hughes drove me to see the cemeteries in the Cape HeUes area and to see the work.at the memorial. Little work has been done to the cemeteries' since your visit; therefore, it will only be necessary to express my appreciation oi the exceUent manner in which the whole of Sir John Burnett's designs have.been earned out. The design forthe Cape Helles Memorial is a fine one, and will, on its prominent bluff, domi-' nate the entrance to the Narrows. The ■■ work is being pushed forward with vigour in the hope that it will' be" completed about August." . . . DATE m UNVEILING CEREMONY. As the- constructional work in many oi the cemeteries is not yet complete, and the'planting and sowing only just being started., Mr. Seager thinks it would be a great mistake to fix a day for the unveiling ceremony before at least Anzac Day in 1926—a time, too ' which is suitable for weather conditions.' At pesent the 'cemeteries show the " bare earth and in many places: are scoured by recent rains. The scouring' will probably continue till the grass is firmly established. It would be a disat)-' pointment to many if they were invited to visit the cemeteries before that time ' ±ne same applies to our monument, lhe land around it will be/grassed and planted this season.

The planting of low trees around our monument will not hide it to any extent from Chanak, and from the vessels the' base of the monument cannot be *een -' about five feet is cut off from the view ot it by the spur of the Sari Bair Range, which runs east and west about 100 yards south of Chanak Bair -i.rJ£r-o.Ketts Horticnltural Officer, told Mx. Seager that Australian and New Zealand plants have been tried, but tie,severe winters proved too much for them.. The Eucalyptus and Leptcsperi. mum (manuka) grew well durin" the summer, but the severe winter killed them.