THE WAR MEMORIAL.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 911, 4 November 1933, Page 39 (Supplement)

THE WAR MEMORIAL.

Stands in a Beautiful Situation. Placed at the entrance to this retreat for the tired business man, tourist, traveller, or visitor is the memorial stone to the men of Hanmer who fell in the Great War. It stands in a triangular piece of ground on the main road from Culverden. The view is one of the most beautiful in all New Zealand. It is a grand panorama of Nature’s handiwork, stretching away toward the valley of the Hanmer River, where it joins the Waiau; and then into the blue distance of the Glynn Wye up to the Lewis Pass and the Hope River.

the snow. “ Had it not been for the soldiers who were then at St Mary’s Hospital in Hanraer, I would not have grot there that day,” said Mr Mockett to the writer. “ I had opened the exhaust to help the engine in the heavy going, and in the stillness of the atmosphere it could be heard for miles. Those boys heard it, and as many as could came out to meet me. They cleared the road of snow as best they could, but on the last rise they had not taken off the ice underneath it. Neither chains nor anything else would assist the lorry in negotiating the last stretch, and the soldiers actually pushed the lorry for half a mile into Hanrner.” After Thirteen Days. The following day Mr Mockett returned to Culverden with passengers who had been marooned, mails and luggage. On July 13 trouble was still being experienced, and the trip to Hanrner occupied five hours and a half. A thaw set in on July 14, and the regular service was again begun, passengers, mails, luggage and very necessary provisions being transported. These floods and snowstorms were the worst the Amuri County has ever experienced, and on those occasions conditions were phenomenal. Old residents who were interviewed and who have been residents in the district for forty and fifty years state that since 1918 there have been signs of distinct changes. Although snow is common on the higher levels during the winter months and heavy rain falls occasionally, weather conditions have much improved.