LATE MAJOR STUCKEY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue XLIX, 30 December 1915, Page 2

LATE MAJOR STUCKEY

MEMORIAL TABLET AT THE CATHEDRAL.

Yesterday afternoon a tablet in momcry of the late Major Frederick Stuckey (:Son of Mrs F. A. Bam ford, of Nelson) was unveiled, at the Cathedral by Bishop Sadlier. The. included many relatives and Mend* of the deceased and a large number of the general public. The "tablet, which is-set in the western' wall of the mai'n body of the church above the seats uSua-Hy occupied by the College boys, is of white marble, and. bears the following inscription:—"ln loving memory of Major Frederick Stuckey, of the 6th Hauraki Company, Auckland Infantry Battalion, Main Body New Zealand Expeditionary Force, who was killed in. action at Gallipoli April 25th, 1915. Aged 36 years." Then' follow the words from St. John xv., 13 :—"Greater love hath iio man thah this, that a. man lay down his life for his friends." Above \ the inscription are the arms and motto of the 6th (Hauraki) Regiment, which ds allied with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light .Infantry. The tablet thus bears, on an eight-pointed star, a lion within the Garter, with the motto, "Kia kaha."

The Bishop having, unveiled the tablet, proceeded to give an addreßs, taking as his text the verse oh the. tablet. In receiving the tablet that afternoon, he i said, they were conscious that they were I admitting into the one place above all places that was fitting for it a memorial of a brave but .first of all a memorial of 'a good' man.. It was a duty which" a Bishop was of ten asked to •perform) "nowadays,' to unveil such tablets or some other token of "affection. for those of their brave boys who had; fallen at the front. He was- especially thankful for. the inscription upon the tablets The church of God was the one true place in which to put such a- memorial ; but the church of Gcd also was the one place where they learnt the secret of the passage of scripture, which commemorated Major Stuckey's work. The text took them back to the Word of God ; it expressed exactly what they meant. In it. our Lord, was speaking of the new commandment to love. That commandment was needed for the. world in those days as it was needed for the world to-day. Our Lord also gave his disciples a standard of love. His explanation of what love meant embodied a truth that had in this part of the world. almost been lositi sight of in times of peace. In consequence of the social •and) political developments of Tecent years iii countries remote from* old strifes and old traditions, individualism had been highly developed. The spirit of independence, the spirit of, self-reli-ance,' Were to be cultivated, but the people -had been rapidly gliding into a danger zone' where self-reliance was becoming selfishness and where independence was becoming a menace to individual souls and to the community, by the neglect of the claims of- others. Consequently they were nearly losing sight of the fact that life itself was vicarious. They were to-day brought face to face with, the fact that -\icarious 'suffering, the individual suffering for ethers, was the true law of life. They had now that 'fact before them every moment; they- had its interpretation in the Cathedral that day. Iti was first and foremost the life of service., Before tlie time of war came, what a poor conception they' had of the public duties which -were laij upon every citizen of the British Empire. Not only was this the case with regard to new institutions, but there was a weakness of public opinion regarding the importance of daily routine.^ t ., As a nation .they' had been brought' suddenly to a halt; they had been checked with stem rebuke. The lesson needed to be learnt over and over again- that life -was service. The highest honour 'fihat any man could have laid-upon him- w ; as to serve another. The Bishop said his hearers •probably knew more than he did about the fine soldier whom they were commemorating, but he did know something of the inner side of life. Major Stuckey's life was one of service. He was brought up in their midst. In his profession he came into contact with young lives. One of the dangers of the teacher was a tendency to regard everything connected' with his work as mechanical. There -were, however, choicer spirits in the profession who looked at the back Of the minds of those who' were committed, to their care —who saw the real, true springs of life, and entered into the making of this young mind. Such a teacher was the man whom they were then commemorating. He felt his responsibility in life, and was intent on the highest ideals, and guided by those "ideals in all that he undertook, and duly put them.' into practice. The Bishop remarked' that at a time when military service did not have the popular support that it now had, Major Stuckey by his example inspired others to render' that service, giving 4 an expression of his life and showing what his ideals were. He then quoted Browning's' lines—

One -who never turned his back but ' marched breast forward/ k Never doubted clouds "would break, Never dreamed," tho' right were worsted, wrong would triumph, Held we fall .to rise, are baffled to fight' better, Sleep to wake.

The vicarious life, the Bishop continued, was not only one of service, but of a 'service which passed into'sacrifice. How full' their hearts were, on that occasion, of the tenderesb and; most loving memories! It was good to know that the teaching of past days-, the expression of ideals, the-broad outlook, 'the joy in taking jjai't in the building of a nation, were not wasted, but' had passed -into the soul of the comimunity and had increased the spiritual momentum of 'their race. It was a' hopeful thing to find the concentration of teaching and example expressed in choice spirits, and' needing only the a occasion. It was a blessed thing, but it meant sacrifice. The soldier they were thinking of gave' his service and' made his sacrifice, and in 'loving memory of him in that -Cathedral church they might perhaps allow their thoughts' to go far, far away to an unknown; grave; and they realised that the service that had been rendered and the sacrifice that had been made was for them. But also they realised, he trusted, something mere—that it/called up afresh before them their Lord, who set the true standard of love. -Let the service they had in that day help to draw therm nearer to Him, who gave Himself for them, not in order that they miight shuffle into eternal life, but in order that they might spend! and, be spent in the life of service and in the life of sacrifice. The Rev. J. P. Kempthorne assisted in the service. The tablet) was supplied and engraved' by !Mr G-. M. Simpson. After the Bishop's address a. service cf- intercession in connection/ with the war was held.