OLD SOLDIERS' GRAVES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 19 December 1913, Page 5

OLD SOLDIERS' GRAVES.

I NORMANBY AND WAIHI CfiMfi- ' TERIES. , The following report, dated November 4, and addressed to the Under-Sec-retary for Internal Affaire Wellington, was written by Miss E. M. Statham, Inspector of Old Soldiers- Graves!* I have the honor to report £B'follows • on my visit of inspectiqn to Nonu,atfb\r' and Waihi Cemeteries on October 20tlr • ' 1913, and to forward for' your boh*rd«ration photographs of the'Parle iflSßt-' " Cemetery there. Victoria Park (Normanby).—Here, a* you will see from photograph; a monument has been erected to the memory of the men who fought and died in' the district. It does' credit to the~ resident*and to the contractors (Messrs Jone* and Sons, of Hawera) heingj a verjr' handsome piece of work. They are mV scribing on it the names 'of the men, no > matter where they fell or died, and the name of Father Rowlands; who,died at, Keerton a few months since, was heine inscribed on the front; he did ajplendi* W jv d™B-*he w and was muchlpT,. Ed by the men he ministered- to. it was not at'first intended to go to so much '. expense with the work, for, as you are* of course aware, the sum' of- £80 was , collected in the district aifd was^supplemented- by another £80, from the> Government. But they have, noi sufficient money to quite finish the work, because they have pujfc a handsome iroi raihng round it,and also,found there were so maiiy inore^names. than they expected, Jthe^^only estraajedt for 50 oozen letters and have already- put on 150 dozen, letters^- with,more as the n;J mej- $ *he f men are discovered and * added; to the rest;, t^ r W 'now, W four sides.of ; the monument: They have exceeded their estimate of cost by £40 the total being.. £2&>j. f £160 .has been subscribed and/ made up 'by vthe £80 from the pepartinent, but.there is «-, balance owing of the sum mentioned. I ,if they'fcohld collect any more and was'^ur^ihey, could .promise^ £10, Wing a Oia%ce oi !£3Q.; Which I - a . & "f* «?', meeting the cairn ™a &s*%*' About a mile and a half away, leincludedin this/and I was taken there, as thaw already informed you, to inspect the woi-kTI-wu - greatly pleased wifclt it, and consider it a credit to theism who did it, a* well as those who were responsible for carrying it out. At first it was not" % thought advisable to fence the plot, at' all, but afterwards they decided? to do, ' so, and put, as you will see frirai the *■' photo, a very neat concrete one with ' iron pedestals, etc., which makes a nett finish to the work. In this* plot of ground are laid 'to rest the men whose names appear on the mjjfble, tablets on the two sides of the c^»,* W under the cabbage trees to the toft is to bey seen the back of a handsdme" marble \ stone to Captain Rbss, which lias Been renovated and, made look,'very nic» The Town BbaVd have alijo mad7a™£, entrance and put up a new gate to est easy access to the soldiers'.part of tho ■ cemetery, the other entrance being in a ■» I mosJ_ avvkward place for vehicles to,get j at. The cairn and monument were both UnvSjsLd-»b/ the Hon- Thos- Mackenzie on 29th May 1912, but.the woAVae > then unfinished. In the cemetery waa also a wooden slab began "to beinscrib-' ed with the names of some of the men li -i "c artwt was evidently unable, for some reason, to finish it. But it has been preserved and placed'in the little Anglican Church hero as a memorial lam quite of the opinion that tbe extra expense was quite justified, and the results speak well for the sea! and interest displayed by the people of the, district. The stone mason, Mr Jones, gave as a donation the handsome* stone cross on the top of the cairn. Mr John Finlay and Mr Davies have worked well and collected a good portion of the , money and the Town Board hare done all they can, but they are not a wealthy body, and have no more money $£¥**•** 'would .respectfully sngother £30 to enable them to finish the work, and that an annual grant of £5 be given also to enable them to Keep % the place m good order. It is rathercostly to keep the grass down, but it * ■• much better to have it than anything 2ft %_K c"cloeur/- is 56 -to* «m*SS * enclosure which ooukf not possibry be dealt with in any other way. , . JL £°,i ,<__? ga.iu respectfully remind ■ you that this is one of the m<xt historical districts in New Zealand, and therefore any work should be of an ornamental as well as of a meraorfcine character, and it has been well done, ' and w,U take but little in future to keep up.