WANGANUI SOLDIERS’ CLUB.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18163, 27 April 1921, Page 4

WANGANUI SOLDIERS’ CLUB.

THE ROLL OF HONOUR. A. It is not often that one has the plea£ ure of being able to so unreservedly praise a pieoe of design and workmanship as one can safely do ip the case of the Roll of Honour just unveiled iu the Soldiers' Clu’o. The memorial is the gift of the Swankers’ Club. The architect for it was Mr H. M Helm, in whoxi office it was designed, we undersuiud. by Mr W. Parker. Briefly, the design is i formed ol groups of p.inels between two I severely designed piers, the whole smnd- ' ing upon*a finely moulded base. The lower group of panels projects boldly heI yond the plane of the upper group, and is sub-divided into five panels; again are each unequally divided horizontally into two panelf, the upper one being filled with paintings descriptive of ; Egypt, Gallipoli, Empire. Palestine, aim 1 France,. Above this the upper group el ; thirteen narrow panels are filled with i the nameiy-—so long a list, alas!—of those from this district who made the ' ultimate sacrifice. Below, in refined Roman lettering, designed by the architect, is the inscription: “In Honour io I Otu- Comrades Who Fell ip the Great War.” Above these panels again is a plain frieze capped by a suitable, ipould--1 ing and upon which is superimposed a wreath and scroll—the latter bearing I the woids ‘ Lest We Forget.” The irk m | hears the dates 1914-1918. The i memorial is carried out in polished heart rimu enriched with inlays of ebony and pear w ood. The workmanship is excellent, and reflects the greatest possible credit upon the contractors, Messrs Fry and Treloar. The mynes of the fallen soldiers,were written in gold by Mes-ra, I Eyle*and Howt-11, and are an excellent of the writers’ craft. The Tpanel pictures were also painted bv a | member of that tirni, Mr Howell, They ■ are well executed copies—but the writer ! ventures to think that this is a fault So '■ i excellent a piece of work as is this Roll . lof Honour surely justifies the employ- . I ment ot an artist to fill the panels witii original work? One other fault is the carved lettering of the inscription " Last V.e Forget.” This is crude, and is to lie the more regretted as the remainder of the lettering, both of the architect an<j_ Messrs Eyles and Howell, is so exoellenHK It is not generally realised how oasiljW good lettering may make a design and* I bad lettering mar it. The carving of the wreath, too, is a little flat and hard. These criticisms would not have been ' | made but for the very excellence of tlie design and workmanship, which make any fault immediately apparent. Besides this the writer has in mind the fact that many more Bolls of Honour and mo- ’ morials will be erected, and unless fault* 1 - are noted the betters,will never be the I best. Mar memorials are a mockerv unj 1 less they are intended to be permanent, and surely, on however small a scale s they lie, they are worthy of the best t I possible in design and execution. Each one should he a work of art. The citi--1 zens of Wanganui may yell he proud of I the Roll of Honour, and should acknow. , ledge their indebtedness to the member* ,I of the Swankers' Club. 'We trust that I : many will take the opportunity of seeing. [ I it in tlie course of the next' few dais L during winch it is open to public view.