LATE MR. SAVAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 67, 20 March 1943, Page 4

LATE MR. SAVAGE

NATIONAL MEMORIAL

THE OFFICIAL OPENING

The garden of remembrance and the park at Bastion Point, Auckland, which are to form the national memorial to the late Rt. Hon. M. J, Savage will be officially opened by the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) on Sunday afternoon, March 28. Mr. Fraser yvill also unveil the monument rising from the ' mausoleum, erected by the Labour Movement, the focal point of the garden of remembrance. The ceremonies will be simple and solemn. On arrival at Bastion Point at 3 o'clock the official party, headed by the Prime Minister, will be met by the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr. Parry), the Mayor of Auckland (Mr, j Allum), and local members of the Legislature. They will be accorded a Maori welcome and escorted to the dais by officials of the Labour Movement in Auckland. The official party will comprise the Prime Minister, Ministers of the Crown, the president and national secretary of the New Zealand Labour Party (Messrs. J. Roberts and M. Moohan), and the president and secretary of the New Zealand Federation of Labour (Messrs. A. McLagan and F. Cornwell). FORM OF CEREMONY. The unveiling ceremony will be preceded by the singing of Haydn's "The Heavens Are Telling," and Handel's "Halleuljah Chorus" by the Auckland Choral' Society and association choirs of some 300 voices, and the singing by the whole assembly of the late Mr. Savage's favourite hymn, "Abide With Me." On the unveiling-of the monument buglers from the Seddon Memorial Technical College will sound the "Reveille." The Prime Minister will then declare the garden of remembrance and memorial park open for the use and enjoyment of the people of New Zealand, and formally hand them over to the care and control of the City of Auckland. Mr. Allum will formally accept the charge. Official wreaths will be laid in the mausoleum by the Prime Minister, the president of the New Zealand Labour Party, the president of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, the Mayor of Auckland, a representative of the Maori people, the presidents of the Auckland branch of the Labour Party and the Trades Council, and Mr. A. J. French. The Prime Minister has indicated that only official wreaths are to be laid in tribute on this occasion.

The ceremony will conclude with the singing of two verses of "God Defend New Zealand" and the National Anthem, led by the Auckland Waterside Workers' Band and the Ponson--Iby Boys' Band, of which the late Mr. Savage was patron. Before leaving Bastion Point those assembled will be invited to file past the open doors of the mausoleum in silent tribute to the memory of the late Mr. Savage. The decision to hold the ceremony on the Sunday, instead of March 27, the actual anniversary of the death of Mr. Savage, was made because a large number of people who desired to attend the ceremony could not be present on the Saturday. A very large gathering is expected. MAN WHOM PEOPLE LOVED. Mr. Fraser said today .that it had been hoped that these functions would ihave taken place last year, but work on the memorials had to give place to urgent war work. It had been found possible to complete both the garden of remembrance and the memorial, but the development of the park must wait. "A representative gathering of members of the Legislature, the Labour Movement, and the Maori people from all parts of New Zealand will be present," said Mr. Fraser, "and I have Sleasure in extending an invitation to le general public, and special accommodation is being provided for school children and old age pensioners, two classes of the people very dear to the heart of the late Mr. Savage. Seats will be reserved for the old people. The memorial will be a lasting tribute to a man whom the people loved and whose work on their behalf transcended all other efforts of his life. Truly, as is simply recorded on the monument, 'He loved his fellowmen.'

"The garden of remembrance and the park are notable additions to the amenities of the City of Auckland, which was so dear to his heart. There was complete unanimity at the time of his* death that his resting-place should be in the city where he had lived and worked for the people for so many years of his life. The choice of Bastion Point as his burial place, and the site of the memorial, met with general approval. It has lent itself to the erection of a noble memorial in the shape of the garden of remembrance and monument, and the provision immediately surrounding of some 16 acres of gently-sloping open land which have been reserved for all time for the use and enjoyment of the people of New Zealand, and which will ultimately be developed into a beautiful park."