WAR MEMORIAL.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1787, 5 November 1919, Page 8

WAR MEMORIAL.

NATIONAL TRIBUTE. VOTE OF £IOO,OOO PASSED. WHAT FORM SHALL IT TAKE? [From Our Own Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, November 4. The vote of £IOO,OOO for a National War Memorial was the most-debated item of the Supplementary Estimates to-night. Replying to queries, the Hon. Sir James Allen (Minister of Defence) said that nothing had yet been decided about the memorial, except that the site should undoubtedly be somewhere about the City of Wellington. Sir James Allen said that he did not suppose that a sum anywhere near £IOO,OOO would be expended before Parliament met again. The first thing would be to acquire a site and the second to secure a suitable design. Mr J. Craigie (Timaru): What form is it going to take? Sir James Allen: I can't tell you! I don't know! Mr Craigie said that all over New Zealand they had collected large sums of money, in every city, borough and town, to put up local memorials. There were many people •who never came to Wellington. He did not know that it would be altogether right at this time, when they wanted money for roads and bridges in the backblocks, to spend so much in Wellington. He yielded to no one in his loyalty, but this work was already being done locally- In a f ew years almost every district or every school ground would have its memorial. He thought Wellington should put up a monument of its own. Sir James Allen: This is not a Wellington matter! Mr J. P. Luke (Wellington North): Wellington will put up its own memorial! Caution Suggested. Mr L. M. Isitt (Christchurch North) said that a great many people of this Dominion were up against spending £IOO,OOO upon a National War Memorial of a non-utilitarian nature. In view of the tremendous financial stress, he thought that the House should pause before it authorised the Government to spend this money. Mr P. Fraser (Wellington Central) : Put it into widows' pensions. Mr Isitt said that they were going to have very great difficulty in future in meeting the needs of their '-soirßeTS who were coming back maimed. If thev were going to spend £IOO,OOO, it would be best spent in subsidies, here and there, for soldiers' homes, and such like. Effect of Parsimony. The Hon. A. T. Ngata (Eastern Maori) expressed himself as being in favour of this memorial. The sort of arguments that Mr Isitt had used had given them the Parliamentary Buildines which thev had. Mr H. G. Ell (Christchurch South): That is so! Mr Ngata: Yes! We started by stinting money. I think I have a notion of what the Minister of Finhas in mind with regard to this nTeraorial. The hon. gentleman contemplates some such thing as the French put up in Paris—their Arch of Triumph—and as your forefathers put up in London—the Trafalgar Monument. Those are not utilitarian at all, but how much have they' meant to history, to the British and the French nations! (Hear! Hear!) Mr Ell: You've struck the right note! When all the utilitarian "mush" had become debris, and lay buried, continued Mr Ngata, monuments like those would live. (Hear! Hear!) He was not opposed to local memorials—they were erecting one in his own district—but New Zealand wanted one national monument that •was capable of expressing the ideals of the people concerning the War and the trials that they had come

through. All this "skinflint" talk should stop. He hoped the Minister would make sure of getting the best possible design, even if it took years. There would still be plenty of money for backblocks roads. Lesson from the Old World. "We want a monument erected in this country," said Mr H. G. Ell, "worthy of the magnificence of the great human sacrifices that have been made." He did not want to see this sum divided out into £IO,OOO here and £IO,OOO there. His first thought had been that the £IOO,OOO was rather too small than too large. He appreciated the reference to the great monuments of the Old World. "Long after we have done with our roads and bridges," he said, "and with the utilitarian institutions of the country, these things will be remembered, and the sentiment which grows around such monuments brings out the national feeling, and keeps a nation together—(Hear! Hear!) —and that is what we want! We want the children now at school to remember that the monument is in honour of the sacrifice of their brothers. We want to keep it always before our eyes, and such great monuments as they have in France and Great Britain help to build Up that magnificent love of country which sent so many noble sons to fight for those lands to which they belonged." Cost Not Begrudged. Mr B. A. Wright (Wellington Suburbs) expressed the opinion that the majority of the people of New Zealand would not begrudge this amount, although, perhaps, Wellington might not be the proper place to erect the* memorial. The tendency of the age was to forget, but here was something that they must not forget. I)r A. K. Newman (Wellington East) said that a national memorial of a utilitarian nature would be all right if it comprised, say, a national art gallery or a hospital. The whole spirit of modern times was in favour of utilitarian monuments. Mr Ell: Then let us resurrect the old ideas. Dr Newman: Oh! Because my lion, friend is old-fashioned, it is no reason why we should not march with the tunes. Brotherhood of Man. Mr H. E. Holland (Grey) supported the principle of a utilitarian memorial, suggesting a national library to foster the spirit of brotherhood of man. Mr Ell, speaking again, said that there would be life in every line of any monument erected to the memory of the dead—life, that was, to every man who had a heart. Mr P. Eraser (Wellington Central) hoped that a worthy memorial would be erected, but that it would be in the nature of a useful building. Mr J. Craigie (Timaru) suggested that the vote should be struck out this year, until the Government was in a position to give a more definite idea of what form of memorial was proposed. Sir James Allen: No! The vote was passed without a division.