NEW ZEALAND'S SACRIFICE

Evening Star, Issue 18094, 9 October 1922, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND'S SACRIFICE

COMMEMORATED AT LONGUEVAL ; MEMORIAL UNVEILED. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. PARIS, October 8. (Received October 9, at 11.30 a.m.) Sir Francis Bell, speaking at the unveiling .of the memorial at. Longueval, expressed thanks, on behalf of the people of New Zealand, to the Government of France and the Prefecture of the Somme for permission to erect a memorial to Now Zealand soldiers. He said that he deeply 'appreciated the honor which France had conferred upon them, and he valued the privilege of having their services with the armies of France thus recorded on one of the historic battlefields. Ho also thanked the French generals for attending to do honor to their comrades in the Great War. Sir Francis Bell paid a tribute to General Godley, under whom the men were first trained. The memorial, he said, was a record of the living and the dead. It was not an idle vaunt of any part which Now Zealand took in the endeavor to do its duty by the Empire and the Allies, but of pardonable pride in the men, whose courage and devotion made the division memorable. “The memorial,” said Sir Francis 8011, “stands on the _ site of Switch Trench, which was the main objective of the New Zealand Division in the attack on September 15, 1916, on the German lines, and which lasted for twentythree days, in which sixty officers and 1,500 men were killed, with a total of 7,000 casualties. We who erect this memorial will never forgot our soldiers’ deeds in Prance." Sir Francis Bell concluded: “Britain and Franco may often differ in the future; but both have learnt that the future of civilisation and the very existence of liberty depejided on their unity. The memorial also will remind our children of the alliance which preserved freedom at the -present and can alone maintain it in the future.” Sir James Allen thanked the municipality of Longueval and the Vicorate D’Anger, the former owner of the land, for assistance in securing the site of the memorial—A, and N.Z. Cable. [The Now Zealand monument at Longueval is in the form of an obelisk. It stands on the high ground, and is easily seen from all the surrounding villages and from the roads leading to them. The monument itself has a diameter of 23ft, the encircling railings having a diameter of 46ft. Outside the railings there is to bo a 14ft road, and encircling the road a plantation 14ft wide. Besides the inscriptions on the stone, there will be in the front the New Zealand badge now being used on the headstones. Around] this is carved a wreath of laurels, contained within a square panel, with a border of conventional Maori ornament. On the front face of the obelisk the inscription reads: “In honor of the men of the New Zealand Division. First Battle of the Somme, 1916.” On the reverse side the same, inscription will be written in French. On- the side will be written: “The New Zealand Division, after gaining this position as their first objective, launched froia it the successful attack on Elcrs, 15th September, 1916.” On the reverse side will be the same words in French. At the base of the monument in front will be : “From the uttermost ends of the earth.” On the reverse the same in French : “Des confins les plus recules de !a terro.”]