THE WAR MEMORIAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18351, 8 March 1920, Page 6

THE WAR MEMORIAL.

In view of the fact that the citizens will this evening be given a further opportunity of discussing the war memorial question, we need offer no apology for recapitulating as briefly as may be our own considered views concerning the needs of the situation and the most practical and acceptable way of filling those needs. In the first place, our conception of a war memorial is that it should fittingly commemorate the whole of the great drama which in recent years lias occupied the world’s stage. For this purpose a cenotaph, however impressive, is inadequate, for it commemorates only those who fell. We all recognise and are proud of the glorious sacrifice made by New Zealand’s dead, and we all appreciate the fact that a memorial which does not give prominence to their sacrifice cannot fulfil its true puipose. But an adequate war memorial must also commemorate the deeds of the living, both soldiers and civilians, who worthily upheld the honour of this city and played their part in the bringing of peace through victory. The needs of the city at the present juncture are threefold—a war memorial, a Hall of Memories and «. city hall. A pledge has been made to. the returned soldiers that the war memorial, whatever its form, shall incorporate their Hall of Memories proposal, and the pledge is one that most honest folk will agree should he honoured. The combining of a war memorial and Hall'of Memories in the form of a city hall is opposed principally on the purely arbitrary ground that a memorial should serve no utilitarian purpose. The objection has not

been sufficiently cogent to deter many important English cities from erecting city halls as war memorials, and' for our own part w® support the cause of utility qn th® ground that a memorial which will enter into the daily lives of the citizens will for that reason more adequately perform its commemorative funotion. On the purely practical side, too, it must be obvious that the city hall form of memorial is the only one that can hope for a substantial measure of support from the city rates. With such support, supplemented, we hope, by generous voluntary donations, it will be possible to erect a memorial on a much more dignified and impressive scale than either method of financing could alone accomplish. The compromise between the two methods pf securing the necessary funds—voluntary subscription and rating—might also be expected to end the controversy on this branch of the question which is at present rather sidetracking the entire disoussion. Provision for the Hall of Memories feature, which, we take it, means provision for the housing of relics of the war—trophies, documents, pictures and rolls of honour both of the honoured dead and of those living soldiers who have gained distinction on the field—could very conveniently and appropriately be included in the design of a city hall, either as a shrine or courtappended to the main hall, or by incorporation in the hall itself. In the matter of sit®, while several excellent locations suggest themselves immediately, it has to be borne in mind that a strong feeling exists against encroaching upon existing city reserves, while the purchase of an occupied site in the centre of the city might prove so costly as to seriously jeopardise the whole scheme. These objections do not apply to the proposal to build on the blook of land near the Colombo Street bridge, comprising at present the Oxford Hotel, the Chester Street Eire Brigade Station and a small yard used for stabling by the City Council. The greater portion of this block is already the property of the city; it faces the fin® open space of Victoria Square, and it is picturesquely situated close to the River Avon. With the necessary adjustment of corners in the vicinity a wide approach could be given to the building, the facade of which could be set out from the street line to a sufficient extent to render the building visible from any part of Colombo Street. An impressive and dignified building on such a site would be a distinct acquisition to the oity from the aesthetic and would form a memorial which could not fail to attract the attention and win the admiration of both citizens and visitors. However, we are not attempting to bp dogmatic or dictatorial in this matter. We have placed before the public a definite and practical proposal which we believe likely to prove the most acceptable and the most readily accomplished, but we shall not feel aggrieved if other counsels prevail. The most important thing is that action cf some suitable kind should be taken immediately, lest the war memorial project die of inanition. We emphasise, however, at this important stage of the proceedings, that a cenotaph is not a memorial of the war period, but merelv a monument to th® dead; that the cteeds of the living, both soldiers and civilians, ought to be commemorated; and that the true spirit and meaning and purposes of a War Memorial would be wholly mat on a more adequate scale than under any alternative suggestion by the scheme we advocate, the ratepayers finding the money for the Oity Hall and the remaining part of the Memorial to Je paid for and adorned out of voluntary subscriptions.