LASTING TRIBUTE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1081, 19 September 1930, Page 1

LASTING TRIBUTE

NEW ZEALAND HONOURS GREAT LEADER THE MASSEY MEMORIAL Special to TIIE SUN WELLINGTON, Today. The natioual memorial to the late Right Hon. W. F. Massey, for 1.1 years Prime Minister of New Zealand, was unveiled this afternoon at Point Halswell. Its gleaming white marble is visible from all parts of Wellington Harbour; inward and outward steamers will pass close to what resembles a digni fled Grecian temple on the hillsiae. The memorial is situated 120 feet above the water. The vault represents a gunpit, thus symbolising the part the late Mr. Massey played in Now Zealand’s destiny during the war. In its dignity and simplicity lies the charm and beauty of this fitting memorial to one of the Hominion’s greatest statesmen.

Five years ago, on a dismal rainy afternoon, the casket containing the body of the Prime Minister was carried over a tortuous track to the vault, then a disused gunpit on the flat top of Point Halswell. His favourite hymn, "Abide W r ith Me,” echoed out over the sea and the surrounding hills, as it did today at the unveiling ceremony. The decision to build a memorial was reached in 1927. Mr. S. Hurst Seager. iu conjunction with Messrs. Guramer and Ford, the Auckland architects, prepared the design. A start with the memorial was made in 1928, one of the conditions being that only New Zealand marble and other materials be used.

The memorial is roofless and is reached by an avenue 79 feet long and 12 feet wide, which is flanked with flower-beds. Actually the memorial has been built round the old gunpit, which is now the vault. Massive pylons guard the entrance to the sanctuary. Immediately above the casket containing the remains of the late Prime Minister is a circular cover of white marble. In the screen there is a block reserved for a medallion portrait of the late Mr. Massey. Today the unveiling ceremony was performed by the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, who delivered an address. Other addresses were given by the Acting-Prime Minister, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, the Right Hon. .1. G. Coates, successor to Mr. Massey as Leader of the Reform Party, and Jlr H. E. Holland, Leader of the Lahour Party. The Rev. George Budd, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, dedicated the memorial, and the Bishop of Wellington, Dr. T. PI. Sprott, offered a prayer and pronounced the Benediction. After the ceremony the party entered the vault to pay homage to the late Prime Minister. The mem orial will now’ be open to the public