PEACE AND HEALTH

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 89, 12 October 1938, Page 16

PEACE AND HEALTH

GIFT TO CARDIFF

"HALL OF NATIONS"

THE SACRIFICE OF WOMEN

(By Air Mail, from "The Post's" London Representative.) LONDON, September 5. Lord Davies, one of the founders in London of the League of Nations Union, and later in Paris of the World Federation of League of Nations Societies, also founder of the Welsh League of Nations Union and creator of the New Commonwealth Society, is providing the City of- Cardiff with a fine new, building costing £62,000, which wilL symbolise the devotion of the people; of Wales to the causes of national health and international peace. , It is to be known as the Hall of] Nations, and at the opening ceremony on November 23 the international aspect of its purpose will be put in the forefront in an unusual way. The building is to be opened and dedicated by the Welsh mother, to be selected by the British Legion, who is deemed to have suffered and sacrificed most in the War. She will be accompanied by eight other mothers bereaved in the war from various regions of England and Scotland, together with one each from Northern Ireland and Eire. Other women delegates are to be invited to represent mothers in the Dominions, the United States, and many other foreign coun-j tries to whom the war brought a 1 personal sorrow. The , diplomatic re- J presentatives of some 25 countries which belong to the League of Nations will also be invited to attend the opening ceremony. Lord Davies believes that in the mothers who are thinking today of what war would mean to their children there is a great will to peace. He wants the ceremony to be the focussing point for their fervent desire for peace, and he wants the Hall to be a permanent symbol of their desire. DOMINIONS' AID ENLISTED. The aid of the Dominion offices in London is to be enlisted in finding their representatives, and the invitation to mothers from foreign countries is being made through the Ambassadors or Ministers in London. Lord Davies is hoping that the Governments concerned will either make themselves responsible for sending mothers or hand over the task to an appropriate organisation, and he is particularly anxious that the United States of America should be represented. In announcing the arrangements for the opening ceremony at a reception in London Lord Davies referred" to this enterprise as a distinctive contribution by Wales to the advancement of public health and international peace. It will serve a practical as well as a symbolic purpose, for it will provide much-needed headquarters for the King Edward VII Welsh National Memorial Association for the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, and office accommodation for the Welsh Council of the League of Nations Union, two organisations in which Lord Davies is greatly interested. In it, too, will be placed the Book of Remembrance which records the names of all Welshmen who died in the Great War. CLASSIC IN STYLE. Mr. Percy Thomas, past president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, fs the architect. He has chosen a design of classic style, "to achieve in a strong and virile manner an effect of peace and dignity." Offices will occupy the two wings of the front of the building. Behind the central portion is the hall, which is 75ft long, and in which will be placed busts or statues of famous people who have worked for peace. Here, too, will be symbolic statues of Justice and Peace, and there will be altars for the Lamp of Remembrance and the Covenant of the League of Nations. Eight black marble columns, with bronze capitals and bases, separate the aisles from the main hall. The central portion will contain a library and a council room, and, Lord Davies said, "the hall, or temple, in which an organ will be installed, which will be used for services and meetings."

Altogether the site extends to about four acres, given by the council, in Cathay's Park, which is Cardiff's civic centre.

. David Davies, who became the first Baron Davies of Llandinam in 1932, is well known as an energetic champion of the causes of peace and health.