ABOUT A BOER GUN

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8180, 23 July 1912, Page 8

ABOUT A BOER GUN

SHOULD IT BE EXHIBITED? SPECIAL TO THE ‘'TIMES." CHRISTCHURCH, July 22,

A small band of passive resistors, composed of young men, waited on the City Council to-night ami asked that the pom* pom in Victoria Square be. removed. Tho members of the deputation wore red ties and red badges. The Mayor warned them that two speakers could lay their case before the Council.

The first (spokesman said the passive resisters wanted the gun removed because it was net beautiful or a wort of art. It was taken from the destructor yard and placed in the Square by a certain section of men. It was an eyesore to any thinking man. It was used by the Boers against our men. and was manufactured by Vickers and Maxim. On the statue behind it was a tablet bearing the names of New Zealanders 'who fell in the Boer war. It was quite within the realms of possibility that some of these men met their deathblow from that particular gun. The gun had "taken part in murder,” in that it had been used by human beings to murder human beings. Children seeing the gun were likely to be taught about war, and it would encourage in them tho war spirit. Another speaker said hundreds of people considered that tho Boer war was wrong. They thought it was immoral, and should never have taken place. They had been described as pro-Boers. The gun should not be flaunted in the public eye or be used to suggest that wo were glorying over a fallen foe. It would bo a generous recognition on our part, if the gun were removed, that the hatchet had been buried between Boer and Briton.

Councillor Williams: Is it true that the gun was taken from the destructor yards? 1 Councillor Cooper: What if it was? (Laughter.) • The Mayor: .It may have been stored ■ there.

Councillor Morris; I have a question to ask. Is the second speaker for tho deputation a pro-Boer? The sneaker: In a sense Councillor Morris: You are ih sym-

pathy with the Boers as against the Britons? The speaker: I am in sympathy with the Boers Councillor Morris: That is quite suf*> ficient. I don’t want any more. Councillor \V. It. Smith: Is theroany possibility of you people coming here and asking us' to remove the statue, as Queen Victoria was the ruler of a nation that went to war? The first speaker: She was not used to murder men. She was only the emblem or figurehead of a capitalistic! State. The deputation unanimously ejaculate ed “hear, hear.” Councillor Otley moved that the ap» plication bo refused. Councillor Taylor seconded this. Councillor ’Sorensen said it was the "silly season” when young men cams to the Council with such a request. (Laughter.) It was a disgrace to their city. The application was refused auiidj laughter and applause.