HONOUR TO THE FALLEN

Evening Post, Volume 137, Issue CXI, 10 June 1926, Page 8

HONOUR TO THE FALLEN

BATTLEFIELD MEMORIALS

AN INTERESTING LECTURE.

The relations of those, who fell in the Great War may rest assured that their loved and honoured dead have fitting memorials erected to commemorate the famous battle exploits of the New Zealand troops. These battle memorials we're the subject of an intensely interesting lecture delivered last evening in the Town Hall to a vory appreciative audience, amongst which were many returned soldiers. The lecturer, Mr. Hurst Seager, himself mainly responsible for these memorials, had a very fine series of lantern slides with which to illustrate his remarks, and it must have been the feeling of all present that the New Zealand Government has nobly fulfilled its duty to posterity by its adequate commemoration ■of the great events of tho war. In every case the memorial has been placed on the most advantageous site that could be found, both on the battlefields of France and in Gallipoli, and all the memorials' are of similar harmonious design, bold and dignified without being ostentatious. Round each grow New Zealand plants in neatlykept gardens, save on Gallipoli, where the climatic conditions render this impossible. Quite the most interesting of the memorials depicted was that erected at Lo Quesnoy to commemorate the liberation of that historic town from the enemy, a feat which was one of the heroic exploits on the part of the New Zealand troops during the war. A whole series of slides showed the making and erecting of the memorial, a beautiful sculpture recording in imperishable marble the scaling of the fortress . walls, with a winged figure holding out a wreath over the victors. The Pronch inhabitants will never forget that day of liberation and have done all in their power to help to make the memorial and its surroundings a thing of joy forever. Other slides shown during the evening made clear tho rapid restoration which has taken place in some of the | battle-stricken areas, while those -of Amiens Cathedral, which contains a ! New Zealand commemorative mural tablet as well as our flag, revealed wonderful architectural beauties. The lecturer, who was introduced by the Mayor, was heartily thanked on behalf of the Returned Soldiers' Association for his lecture.