Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1893.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVII, Issue 106, 6 May 1893, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1893.

A telegram from Ohioftgo published yesterday says that it is intended to oroofc a monument in honour of Columbus. To do so seems quite unnecessary. His .memory has taken very good cavo of itiself for four hundred years, and certainly requires no monument to keep it fresh. As iv the case of Sir Christopher Wren, those who wish to see a monumelit have only to look about. Beranger, the French poet, ouoe ridiouled the fashion of erecting monuments where they were needless, by suggesting that one should be set up to the memory of Noah, and proposed the top of Mount Ararat as a suitable site. The fact is that monuments do bettor to perpetuate the memory ot those in whoso houour they are erected. If a mans life has been obscure ho will be forgobton in spite of much stono and lime, and if he has either been a great bone* faotor or a great nuisance to his fellow creatures he will be remembered though there may be no istatues or monuments to him. If a monument alone, oould preserve tame, one in Westminster Abbey ought to be tho most effectual in doiug so, but tho Abbey is crowded with memorials to people about whom hardly anyone in these days has ever heard. Many oi tbe inscriptions are iv such florid terms of panegyrio that those who read them teel ashamed that they know nothing of the history of men who were bo much belauded, and who were thought worthy of a plaoe beside the greatest men whom England has produced. A Btatue of a great man, if it is a decent work oi art and a good portrait, is decidedly interesting. People like to know what was the personal appearance of famous men, but there must be the fame before the curiosity oan exist. The worst of it is that a great deal of modern outdoor monumental statuary is very bad. The few examples iv New Zealand are anything but satisfactory, and almost every town in the United Kingdom is crowded with hideous effigies. Modern > male costume does not lend itself well to statuary. A leading citizen in a tall hat and frock coat certainly does not look well in marble or bronze. Sometimes the difficulty is overcome to a certain extent, but such monuments as a rule are very nearly if not quite ridiculous, i