LEST WE FORGET.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 26 April 1928, Page 6

LEST WE FORGET.

Mr John Finlay’s Maori War reminiscences, which we .published, last .Monday, were very timely, including- as they did a reference to the continued aibsonce of a suitable memorial to mark the site of the famous l engagement at TuruturuMokai, and) appearing two days prior to Anzae Day and the day before .the

meeting of the Borough Council. It was fitting that the Council should turn its attention this week to ways and means of perpetuating the memories of those veterans of earlier wars who laid down their lives for their fellows and for posterity no -less than did the heroes of the Great War. It will be with very real pleasure that the survivors of those stirring early times, and! their descendants, will learn that the local authority intends prosecuting its request for a Government subsidy of the amount so thoughtfully bequeathed by a former resident of the district who shared with. many others a deep respect for the achievements of the pioneers. The fact that the Council has decided to consult the wishes of Mr J. G. Beamish, the last survivor of the band which defended the redoubt sixty years ago, will go a long way towards salving the feelings of some of the- -early settlers who have held the opinion that recognition of the deeds performed there, and the raising of a monument to the memories of the men who performed them, are acts long overdue. Government departments are sometimes slow to move, but if the committee appointed by the Council on Tuesday acts quickly and with determination, it may be enabled to make its. arrangements so that the ceremony of raising a memorial to the memory of New Zealand’s fallen soldiers of an earlier day will fall upon the sixtieth anniversary of the engagement. If this happy result could be obtained, lasting satisfaction would be given to Mr Beamish, the last link with the living present and that chapter in New Zealand’s early -history —and that satisfaction would be shared by all other veterans of the war wherever they may reside.