THE SACRED WAY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14449, 8 November 1917, Page 7

THE SACRED WAY.

ETERNAL MRMORIAL OF SACRIFICE AHD GLORY. .

BRITISH AID INVITED* FOR A TWOFOLD PURPOSE.

LONDON, Aug. 31. , E. Temple Thurston writes:— Beside that atmosphere of sentiment so vividly coloring the conception of the Sacred Road which, m <its doubled sense, will lie across the very heart of France, there is as wel.l th!e stirring arid noble purpose of reconstruction". ;..' : ■ '. Down all that 400 miles of country across which the line of battle has been flung, soriie hundreds . of thousands of acres have been lard m such' waste as the mind can scarcely conceive, and bewilders the eye that Sees ' it: For it is not only the debris of battle, that lavish waste of all the countless materials of war, it is not only the earthquake of three years' bombardment 'V'tli^t has churned the soil into, an unsightly 'spume of mud amd stories'; 1 but r the very 'soil itself has been poisoned and its life destroyed by the impregnating chemicals of the millions of, high explosive shells.

THE ORIGINATOR

It • was M. dementel who, when considering all the varied 1 aspects of the situation, the fruit trees' arid forest trees that must be found,- the gardens, that must be replenished, the homes 'that must be rebuilt, conceived the idea of combining with the 5 work this "schehie of a lasting memorial. ' Orie , may; call it a Sacred Road: In France they call it "Le Foret Saci y e." In conjunction with the Toxiring Club 6f France, ; assisted m council by M. Dufert, the vice-president of that club, M. Clementel, hjas set that idea m motion. '.«'. , ' .

Lieutenant Georges Truffand, Directeur les Pepin'ieres, 1 has been '.sent - pyeri; as delegate- to this country to secure the co-operation of the Toufiiife Oub "of England and- the -agricultural and horitcultural societies, arid a. committee has already been formed to .pl-omote the interests of the scheme.

Many people may wonder how such a road can be constructed through, property which, 1 though' m a devastated condition now, still belongs to private owners. But 'there are special laws m France which! allow the expropriation of land bvytlie Government. la. every district what is known as the cadastre — a detailed survey m maps — is kept from year to year by the mayors of towns m the centre of each district. Every acre of land, built and unbuilt, is to be found oil these maps, 'with its valuation ; and with this' for a basis, xnt\i the laws of expropriation which are . a peculiar feature of French law, the laud will be secured for the purposes of the memorial.

FOR AfLI/ TIME 1 .

On this same principle of purchase; the Route de la Cbrniehe from 1 Hyeres ■t6"'Cannes, well .known; to 'every motorist; $ho has travelled abroad, wa^ constructed to preserve for all time 1 the beauties jo. fy that coast line Avhich lies along the ''shores of the Mediterrarieaji I.'1 .' So m 'effect will this Route de la Memoire Sacree be secured for thfe people, of ;al} timevtobe< hold, not the beauties 6,'f nature, but jthe deseci*ation no less'thaiv the selfSftcrifice of men. "'p' 1 ";;.". .- ' * As with the Route de, la CoKniolie,' this Sacred Road, with its cemeWifes," its forests at either side, its^signits Of 'ruined villages and, its 1 broken ohui'cheslV'will be kept up by the Ponta et , <phausse'es, which is a • department especially 'set aside for this work m ,£he Bureau des TravauxT Publics) The" schebe is no novel one m tliis respect. . The Rout6.de i la Corniche is. simple precedent ehou|?h. [But while tins road is to be constructed to preserve for all time the memory of the gi'eatest- war the world has ever seen, there is also embraced with' it the loftiest 'of purposes, the purpose "of reconstruction with' which men 'm"\ist build up afresh that yrhiciv b"V i the^ hands of men has been so waotpnty . destroyed.

RECONSTRUCTION. '

. Here '< is k a- 'work .of reconstruction m Belgium" arid in'Francfc to whicW all th 6 Allied and- neutral peoples of .'civilisation should : find it m; thfeir ;• hearty to lend a hand. 'One :<has ' only to think of the fields and meadows, ; the towns, and villages of England laid m such appalling waste as ''this.'' m the *cause^:of a liberty which has been and still is m .danger for the :>free- peoples ; of the world—one has only to think of this to realise what we should feel if thia>'?paft' i of ■ the brunt of battle had 'been ours.

XTpon' a coniite ''d'hbrineur and a c6nseil d' administration ,aye ' to be found .;■ the. names of^ M. FernahaVDavfd; the French Minister of ''Agriculture, M. Leon Bourpreois, IVlinipter . pfcPublic ■Works,* and M. Cl§mentelj Miftiisfcei^o^Cfomrnerce, all of whom have pledged' themselves and 'their . interests >thisvplan -of-vreeb'n'strtiction,' .tWe work for i which • has begun e'veh now .m order that., no time may be lost when once peace 'has been 'declared: '"• When one considers : the number of orchards that : have 'been.. ,wantonly destroyed, the trees' r w^ich rut]i3ess)v have been% cut down, m the majority p of cases to serve no ' purpose, *he , gardens, , homes, and ' sacred 1 <places that have been ' pitilessly decimated, one can easily see the wast' proportions of the worjc that lies i iiv . frfJtit of the Go^critment of F ran .Cfi when th<j war is over. ' Before us m i; Entfland -there •is enough" m all conscience to, W ;doite. '.' but where is there, to; be such'; bitter labor as thlS?," 1 '" "' ;'".'' V»'JC"^K'V-'*rt.'-.'--' ■>'■}'■'

'■*<•■ WORK FOR SOLDIERS. ■ Thfs is a labor upon which, '"when the war is over, thousands of men m the Pi'ench aiTny" will be emplpyed while they are gradually beinjr brought back' to their peace-time employments. The aid of the Royal Horticultural and Royal Agricultural Societies of this country will be invaluable m the progress of this work. For fruit trees and forest tree's must be found to make that double line of generous woods that will spread from the coast of Flanders to the veiy borders of Swiss territory. Through Albert, where much rebuilding can be done, through Perorine, %St. Quentin, and the Chemiri des Dames, that road will run towards Rheims, with its hollow shell of one of the most beautiful cathedrals m the world. Where possible, as, for instance, at Hartmannsweilerkopf, whole forests will need replanting — where," over the acres pf jyround once dense with leafy trees, the splintered stumps now stand, all shattered iimbs of nature. There are- some who still affirm that even now iri this .country. . we have not learnt the deeper truths of war ,• and despite losses ' that thousands have borne, wounds that even time^ may not be long enousjh to heal, there is yet this aspect of that- statement which! is true. We know but little of ' the ruined homes, of I the devastated • fields, stretching m all their horror of unsightly desolation, to the very horizon ; ' we know nothing but what a few, pictures -., can succeed m truly,.-CQrij,iiringj;tb the., mind.