HISTORICAL GRAVES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21560, 3 August 1933, Page 13

HISTORICAL GRAVES

Sir, —I was intensely interested in tho account of Gordon's grave which appeared in your paper of July 10. Several years ago, in the course of my duty as Inspector of Soldiers' and Historical Graves for the Government, I went through the Invercargill cemetery, and tho inscription on the headstone of W. A. Gordon arrested my attention at once. I got in touch with the Mayor and municipal authorities and we discovered he was a brother of General Gordon, and the Mayor at oncq said the grave would, be renovated and kept in order In future, and I was very pleased to see that the promise made had been so well kept. Isothing more was known about him, but' some time after, I mtft a lady whoso father had been manager on a larg9 Southland run, and she told me Gordon was a shepherd there and a most lovable man and a perfect gentleman, but his own enemy. While on this subject may I crave_ attention to another matter of historical graves in this country. In Bolton Street and Mount Street cemeteries in Wellington, Guyton Street in Wangtinui, and, to come -nearer homtf, St. Stephen s and Symonds Street in our own city, thero lje tho men who fought for us. not only with rifle and sword, but spade and plough. In many cases, not a single relative is left to, care for them, and yet they made our historv in the past. My mind goes back to Dunedin where, at the top of Place,' there is a pretty reserve, with grassy lawns and trees and in the middle a monument to the memory of those' who lie there. Memories aro short these days, and even the men of the last war, who came home to die through its effects, are almost forgotten. The Returned Soldiers' Associations see to it that no grave in their own districts is neglected, but there are others in many places where nothing is yet being done. I am met constantly with the fact that it is only a matter of sentiment. Well, there are many people who do not seem to realise and would not own it if tlicy did—that .we are really the most sentimental nation on earth. Look at tho controversy that has been going on in your columns concerning "tho new loyalty;" and also tho fact that the grave of an unknown man in tho South is kept green simply because ho happened to b3 a, brother of one of our greatest heroes. No, it is not idle, maudlin sentiment that keeps our glorious Empire together, but the real thing, and when sentiment dies out of the hearts of tho British people, tlio British Empire will die out, too. ' Edith M. Statham, cal Graves.