SACRIFICE OF YOUTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18730, 9 June 1924, Page 9

SACRIFICE OF YOUTH.

NEWMARKET'S SOLDTERS.

MEMORIAL ARCH UNVEILED.

MR, MASSEY'S MEMORIES.

Despite the heavy and continuous rain, many were in attendance at Newmarket reserve yesterday afternoon, to witness the unveiling, by thii Prime Minister, of the war memorial archway, erect-ed to the memory of Newmarket men who fell in the great war. Jiiolemnity marked the occasion, and there were numerous sorrowful indications that' mothers and wives of dead soldiers were there to pay a tribute to the memory of the lost ones. Under the command of Lieut. R. S. Ji\dson, V.C., about 300 senior cadets wire present, forming a Guard of Honour. They comprised cadets from the 24th Company, Mount Eden, 25th Company, Mount Eden, 32nd Company, Remuera and Newmarket, and 33rd Company, Epsom. The Ponsonby Boys' Brass Band played the " Dead March " after the unveiling, and the " Last Post " was sounded by four trumpeters from the Seddon Memorial Technical College. A largo wreath from the Mayor, corporation, and burgesses of Newmarket was placed at the base of the archway. The Prime Minister, who was received by tho Mayor of Newmarket, Mr. S. Donaldson, and members of the Borough Council, performed the unveiling ceremony upon his arrival, and thereafter the proceedings were continued in the Municipal Hall. The archway, which has been in position for some little "time, bears the names of 31 fallen and there is one more name to add.

Two Hundred Men From Borough. Mr. Donaldson, in opening the proceedings in the hall, said that New-market, in common with other parts of the Dominion, had responded to the call for volunteers, and to the end of the war was able to contribute her quota of reinforcements. The 'borough had sent away about 200 men, of whom 32 had given their lives.

The Prime Minister recalled the notable fact that New Zealand sent over 100,000 men to the war, of whom 17,000 never came back. The women of the Dominion had, he remarked., also played their part-, although they had not the samo opportunity of working; as did their sisters in England. It had. fallen to his lot to correspond with tbo relatives of the men who fell, and he recalled one reply ho received from a woman away out in the back blocks, who wrote: " I thank God, who has given me men for sons." No sentiment more noble than that was ever uttered by a Spartan mother. If ever the Empire needed help again, the manhood of the country would, he was satisfied, respond as it did in 1914. After a reference to the splendid way in which the native races of the Empire had borne their part in the war, Mr. Massey said, that one country l;here was, France, which had suffered morei than Britain. In some of the French towns and villages, it was no exaggeration to say that not one stone was left upon another. The scourge of war had passed over the country's beautiful fields, so that they resembled a desert. Churches and cathedrals were smashed almost beyond recognition, and the factories were, by special instruction, smashed up. For 26 days he had sat as vice-president of the commission inquiring into atrocities, and the evidence they heard was unprintable. He did not wonder that the French people were nervous over what had taken place recently. Although he could not agree with everything France had done, yet his heart went out to her people when he considered what they had suffered during the war. France had been invadec: twice within a century, and that fact was at the back of the French mind all the time. France had been England's loyal ally in the war, and he trusted that those two nations would ever remain as loyal to each other in their friendship as they were during the war.

Duty to be Prepared. Mr. Massey then delivered a short but apt homily upon the text from Isaiah. " No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." He referred,, in the first instance, to the Zeppelins, which menaced London, and indicated how the inflammable bullet was brought into existence to destroy them. Yet other terrible war devices which had been used by the enemy, were poison gas, overcome by the gas mask, and the submarine, circumvented by the hydroplane and depth charge. The great fighting ships of Germany were now under the water at Scapa Flow. The' war had gone, but he was one of those who thought they had not seen the last of war. He was asking for nothing in the way of military defence at present, but lie would remind them that they could not build ships in a day, or a year. It took years to build such vessels as the Hood and Repulse. It was their duty to be prepared to defend the Empire, should it become necessary to do so.

At_ the Municipal Hall Mr. Massey also unveiled "a roll of honour. He also took the opportunity of saying that thera were many returned soldiers who would never be well again. Wonderfully cheerful he had found those afflicted men, and, he added, so long as they lived it was the duty of the people to do all they could to maintain them in comfort, and see that their lives were made as happy as possible.

The Rev. D. C. Herron, M.C., said that the men who went to the war were born of parents who bad battled with all the difficulties of tujisock, swamp, and bush. Those young mon had the right spirit, and when the lour struck they showed that, like their nires, they coultl make a sacrifice.

A short but feeling address was also made by the Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, the vicar of the parish. The proceedings closed with the singing of the National Anthem.