LATE MISS J. MACKAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 81, 3 October 1938, Page 4

LATE MISS J. MACKAY

— l» PROPOSED NATIONAL ! MEMORIAL I Feeling reference to the death of Miss Jessie Mackay was made at a recent meeting of the New Zealand centre of the P.E.N., when the follow- ! ing resolution was passed:— ! "The P.E.N. centre of New Zealand records its deep sorrow at the death of Miss Jessie Mackay, a foundation member of the centre and a wellloved veteran of New Zealand letters; and it offers its deepest sympathy to her relatives. Members of the P.E.N., however, are mindful that Jessie Mackay died full of honour as well as of years, and they express their appreciation of all that she accomplished as poet, critic, and crusader. Jessie Mackay was one of the most gifted and original poets that this country has produced, and her genius was recognised abroad as well as at home. As a nativetborn New Zealander she pioneered in the expression of the New Zealand spirit, and linked it with a passionate love of the Celtic race from which she sprang. As a critic she was authoritative and inspired; with the keenest insight and the highest standards she combined a gentle kindness wherever kindness was deserved. Her interest in "th 6 work of young authors was warm, .unselfish, and unflagging. As a crusader, her pen was at the service of cause after cause, and no odds daunted her courage. Illustrious in her art, she was noble in friendship, her devotion to duty, and her dis--1 regard of self. The P.E.N. salutes the j memory of a great poet and a great woman." A committee consisting of Messrs. !C. A. Marris (president), Johannes | Andersen, Alan Mulgan, and Pat Lawlor has been appointed to consider the following proposals regarding a national memorial to the late Miss Mackay:— 1. An annual prize for the best New Zealand poem of not less than, say, twenty lines, to be called the Jessie Mackay Memorial Prize. That the judge or judges be appointed jointly by the Chief Parliamentary Librarian and the president of the P.E.N. 2. A monumental memorial of some kind in the new national library, with the consent of the Government. ————————mm— mmm