TONGARIRO PARK

Southland Times, Issue 19509, 8 May 1922, Page 6

TONGARIRO PARK

A PROJECTED EXTENSION NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL PROPOSAL (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, May 6. A movement is on foot to urge the Government to extend the boundaries of the National Park by including forest areas on the lower slopes of Mt. Ruapehu. This was rejected by Parliament in 1920, but the New Zealand League, Institute of Forestry, and other bodies are raising the proposal again, and intend to press it. Professor H. K. Kirk wishes to go further and asks the R.S.A. to accept the extended park as the national war memorial for which £lOO,OOO was voted. His letter will be discussed by the Dominion Council next month. His idea is that such a park would be far better and more enduring than any work of art. Professor Kirk suggests that the main approaches to the park might be known by the names of fronts on which the New Zealand soldiers fought. Special memorials could be erected on them, or all such memorials could be confined to a given area. There is abundant material on the mountain for cairns. Added interest would be given by the erection of memorials by men who themselves took part in the events. For instance, the Messines Cairn could be erected by soldiers who fought there, and so on. There should also be a chapel or shrine enclosing a roll of all men who went overseas. Funds should be provided by annual grants from the Government and the inconife from graxing lands in the park, or both.