WAR MEMORIAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18454, 16 January 1922, Page 2

WAR MEMORIAL

COURT PRIDE OP DUNEDIN. ROLL UNVEILED BY JUDGE ADAMS. The unveiling ceremony of the roll of honour of the Court Pride of Dunedin, Ancient Order of Foresters, took place in the Oddfellows’ Hall, Stuart street, yesterday afternoon. The teeming rain interfered considerably with the attendance, but nevertheless there were present a large number of members of the court in' their regalia, and also of their friends. The honours roll, which is a very handsome and finely finished structure, was draped at first with a huge New Zealand flag. The memorial is of cedar wood with mahogany finish, and the names are inscribed in black on a gilt background behind plate glass. It contains 17 names of members of tho court who fell in the great war, and beneath these are the names of 54 returned soldier members.

'Hie service wag presided over by tho Rev. Hector Maclean, who led the meeting in prayer after all had joined in singing two verses of the National Anthem. The stately, over-appropriate paraphrase, “Our God, our help in ages past,” followed, and then Mr G. Luokhuret rendered expressively the solo “The End of a Perfect Day.” The actual unveiling ceremony was performed by his Honor Mr Justice, Adams, an old member of the Court Pride of Dunedin. He returned thanks fbr the invitation to unveil tho memorial that they were setting up in memory'of the stalwart men who left the Court Pride of Dunedin and went out and did their duty amid scenes of danger; and stress and toil. Some of them met their deaths there in our service. H© believed that if . those brethren were present they Vjould all deprecate strongly any language that might savour of extravagant eulogy, and he did not propose .to indulge in any such language. They were in the presence of the mighty dead who for patriotism and love of country and their kind 1 chose hardship rather than ease, danger rather than safety, loft their homes, and, in distant lands, fought bravely ! for home and friends ahd empire. For those of. their brethren who had gone Beyond the reach of their , voices they entertained the deepest respect and veneration. These gave their lives for us, for the country that we called dear, for the Empire of which we were loyal citizens, fof, the institutions that had growri to be part of our very bones _ and marrow, for liberty and right and righteousness and freedom. We would never cease to honour their memory. For those who returned, too, we entertained tho most profund respect. They, had been spared to return to home and friends, but they no less than those who had gone not to. return * went _ out in the true spirit of service and sacrifice, prepared, if need be, to lay down their lives. They were there to register their vows that so far as in them lay they would emulate the example of those men and seek to carry oh their work by sacrifice and service. The shadow, pf the groat war was still upon us, and probably none ■■ of them -had made the xnisteke. of imagining that tho call for personal sacrifice and service; wois’.d end with the war. Our Empire, oiir country, bur home, our friends required from us. now 1 just as strenuous service and unselfish sacrifice as ever was required frdm the men whose memory they were honouring. If we did npt realise that true patriotism lay in socriflee there were hard, and difficult times ahead for all of us and for those who come after us. He urged them to seize every opportunity of working-out with one common purpose the great possibilities that lay before this country, and the great Empire of which we formed a part. He called upon them by the challenge of the sacrifice of those men to follow in .their, footsteps apd do' what in them lay, to - make this country great. His Honor .then, in the name of the great brotherhood of Forestry, unveiled the memorial. '

Tie audience remained standing while Bugler-Sergeant Napier sounded out “The Bast Post” and then the “Reveille.” Kipling’s hymn, “Lest we forgot,” 'followed. ■ Dr T. Harrison, president of the / Returned Soldiers’ . Association, ■ returned thanks for the honour done to the Returned Soldiers’ Association by the invitation expended to him. It was to honour the memory of those men who had done so much to bring the war to a successful termination that they had erected that memorial and had attended that afternoon. Their work well done, these men now slept the sleep of peace scattered far on foreign soil. There could be comfort to the relatives of the deceased in the thought that there could be no better epitaph for a man _ than that he died for his country fighting for justice and - liberty. It was pleasing that these men wore being kept in remembrance through so many memorials, but our duty'towards the men who had kept the country free was not 1 discharged merely by erecting such memorials. ' We would always owe a duty to the men who had returned wounded and maimed and to the relatives who had been bereaved. He asked all employers to deal gently with the men who had returned injured. •; ; Miss Phyllis West rendered with much feeling the sacred Solo “How Lovely are Thy Dwellings,” and after the .united singing of “Abide with tne” the ceremony concluded with prayer and the Benediction and a verso of the National Anthem. Mr .Arthur Gordon provided the instrumental accompaniments throughout the service.