HONOURING THE BRAVE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 7 November 1925, Page 8

HONOURING THE BRAVE.

ANNIVERSARY OF OTAPAWA ARRANGEMENTS TO BE MADE. The pioneer- soldier colonists, ns well as regulars, who formed the rampart on the fringe of colonisation in the early days of Taranaki are entitled to I .all the honour that can be done to perpetuate their memory and that of the work they did in those strenuous days. For a long time, it is to be regretted, they were forgotten, and many lay in nameless graves, uncared for and neglected. But of late years,- through the efforts of men like Mr. J. Finlay and the late Mr. J. r Livjngstpn, the qucstioil of collecting records and restoring and looking after graves in military cemeteries and of creating monuments has been made a live movement, and several memorials show the result of the good work of those men.

There is a little cemetery at Ohawe in which is a fine cairn erected in honour of men who fell in engagements round the district by the late Mr. -J. Livingston. Since his death the plot has been allowed to get into disrepair and has not been closed against cattle, and naturally it has suffered in consequence.

To sec if improvements could be made Mr. J. Finlay has taken the matter in hand, and last night ho waited on the Ohawe Beach Committee, all of whom are interested in its proper maintenance. He sketched a scheme to improve the little graveyard, and to beautify it on account of its history and record. The scheme is to repair the fences and to put ip* a lasting gate. He explained that the department concerned had, at his suggestion, arranged to have the land transferred to them, and would, lie was convinced, do the work of restoration if the Ohawe Committee made, the application. This the committee agreed to do, through Mr. Finlay,’ and a motion to this effect was carried unanimously.

In connection with the scheme, there is another ■ function to be performed, and that is the unveiling of the monument over the grave of the (late Mr. It. B. Hamilton, one of the most highly re spected of the pioneers and a man whose services in the engagements of the sixlies stood out conspicuously. In order to link up several memories of the past in the manner most fitting, Mr. J. Finlay has suggested that Wednesday, January 13, which will bo the sixtieth anniversary of the engagement at Otapawa, a battle ground near Taiporohenui, in which Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Wallace took a prominent part, should be the day fixed for the unveiling of these memorials. His idea was in the first place that Mr. Wallace should perform the unveiling, but the Reaper Death has claimed him, and that will have to be rearranged. ; In order to make arrangements for the functions, a committee was set up consisting of Messrs. Dixon, Page and Finlay, with power to add to their mini ber, and they will begin at once to make the necessary arrangements. It is to

be hoped the people of the district, who owe so much to those pioneers, will take an interest in the movement to honour the ' memory of the illustrious dead, those who fought and survived as well as those who fell for their country and Empire.