SCOTT MEMORIAL COMMITTEE

Otago Witness, Issue 3239, 12 April 1916, Page 27

SCOTT MEMORIAL COMMITTEE

PRESENTATION OF PRIZES AT OAMARU.

The presentation of prizes in connection with tho Oamaru Scott Antarctic Memorial Committee took place on the 6th inst. There was a splendid attendance, the Opera House being packed. Mr W. H. Rose presided, and seats on the platform were occupied by Captain Stenhouse (commander of the Aurora), tho Hon. J. A. Hanan, Mr B. P. Lee, M.P., tho Mayor of Oamaru, tho rector of the Waitaki Boys' High School, and many leading citizens. Mr Rose explained the object of the meeting, which was to commemorate Captain Scott and his comrades, who perished in the Antarctic.

The Hon. Mr Hanan, who was greeted with hearty applause on rising to "speak, said they sought to commemorate with ail reverence that little band of heroes the story of whose sublime courage and sacrifice could never fade from human memory. Away in the blizzard-swept wastes of trie Antarctic was a lonely cairn marking the snot where the noblest band of victims ever, claimed by the winding sheets of South Polar snows, died one by one to the call of duty—faithful to the last. The whole story was one of simple, manly heroism, of success modestly achieved, of hardships faced with a courage and a fortitude that would inspire the sons of Britain for all time. Had Antarctic exploration done no more than give us the inspiration of the. example to bo found in the struggles and death ot Captain Scott and his comrades, it could not be said it was not worth while. To-day the record of Captain Scott and his fellowheroes appealed to us with a new thrill of inspiration. The survivors of that memorable expedition, who had figured in our navy's strenuous work since the war began, had proved again and again how the lesson of that stern ordeal had burned into their souls. Might they not say that the unconquerable spirit of Captain Scott held invisible sway over the British navy in it 3 long sleepless vigil, and that in the sister service our soldiers who endured untold extremities in shell-torn trenches wero animated by the spirit which inspired Captain, Oatcs in the strangely moving act by which in the los ; ng of his life he exalted it? Those lone figures, lying stark and stiff, uncorrupt amid the snows of Antarctica, wero mighty preachers of the indomitable hero-ism-of our race. The supreme 10-sson that came to us with appealing insistence was the lesson of discipline and duty. Was there any wonder that Britain ruled the waves? Was there any misgiving that, when this troubled night of daz)ger and the war storm was past, the flag of England would not hold its old pre-eminence in honour as in victory? We asked wistfully if wo had the moral fibre >:' our pioneer forefathers? It might bo aid that the 40,000 New Zealanders who iiad cheerfully offered their lives for their country furnished a sufficient answer, but ho was not asking the question as regarded them. It was to the very much larger number who could not go to the front and the others who showed no purpose of offering themselves that this self-examination applied. The fact that so many of the gallant sons of New Zealand had earned a recognition which we could never repay or express should make us doubly bound to look well what corrupting influences might be weakening our efficiency as a nation and by what means we could show in the future that we wero at least worth saving from the tender mercies of the Huns. It was not for the sake of gold that Scott and his fellow heroes went out to reach the South Pole, and -it was not for the sake of earning money that our brave boys went out to fight for King and the Empire, but to give out their best efforts for the good of others. In conclusion, he referred to the gallant lads who a few years ago were occupying the desks in the schools of New Zealand," including hundreds from the schools of North Otago and Oamaru. All of them had played the man in tins grim ordeal of war. They had «o nobly upheld the traditions of our history at Gallipoli that to be an Anzac was to bear a wreath more honourable than crown or coronet. They were nobly upholding these traditions on the hills of Thrace, on the plains of Mesopotamia, on the dreary wastes of Western Egypt, and in the devastated fields of Franco. From these fighting men the appeal must touch us still mure intimately—the mute appeal of their sacrifice in urging that 'we should not fail in that discipline of self-denial and strenuous effort by which we might be worthy of having such sons, such brothers, such citizens of our cherished island home. Captain Sttonhousc, who was received with loud and prolonged applause, referred to one or two members of Captain Scott's party who were now helping in the war. He 'pawed over th • -not where Captain gcott and comrades died. Ho rend out portion of the last letter which Captain Scott wrote to Mrs Wilson with reference to her husband. He said he hoped to get away again in October, although they would have to wait outside the ice until the gates opened for them. The prizes wero presented by Captain Stcnhouse.