“LEST WE FORGET”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19475, 15 December 1925, Page 5

“LEST WE FORGET”

WAITOTARA’S TRIBUTE TO THE DEAD MEMORIAL GATES OPENED. IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY ON SATURDAY. (By Our Special Reporter.') The township of Waitotara, situated in a snug little valley on the main road to New Plymouth, was the scene of great activity on Saturday, on the occasion of the unveiling of the memorial gates, erected at a cost of £2OO, to the memory of the men of the district who served and made the supreme sacrifice during the Great War. The gates arc handsome in design and form a splen!did entrance to the local Domain. The | pillars on either side are made of Egjmont stone. The gates form an appropriate edifice that will serve to perpetuate the gallant deeds of those men who went overseas and laid down their lives for their King and Empire on Gallipoli Peninsula, in Mesopotamia and in Flanders fields and other war zones, and will be an indelible reminder to posterity that it behoves them to uphold the traditions of their race, so nobly sustained during the war to end wars. The weather was showery and squally a few minutes prior to the service, but the rain ceased for the actual ceremony as if in keeping with the occasion. Procession to the Memorial. The memorial service conducted in connection with the unveiling ceremony was impressive and appropriate. i The service was preceded by a proI cession, in which some three hundred 'people participated. The Junior Garrison Band headed the procession, which proceeded down the main street and via (Station road to the gates. They were > followed by Territorials, boy scouts, (school children, veterans and returned 'men, civic authorities and clergy, memjbers of the memorial committee, and vistors and residents of the district. ■The Waitotara Maoris were also well | represented, and were in charge of Ser-Igeant-major 11. Sutherland.

I Those who participated in the pro- ■ cession formed up facing the gates, and I the ceremony was commenced with the 'singing of the hymn: “O God our Help in Ages Past,” followed by Scriptural reading by Rev. W. Kelly and prayer by Rev. Dabourne, the local Presbytertian Minister. ■ The first speaker was the chairman of ithe Memorial Committee (Mr. H. Grove), who, at the outset, said that there was no necessity to remind his hearers of the reason for which they were gathered; the slabs on either side of the gates conveyed that. They | would all agree that the memorial gates were not only a credit to Waitotara, but also to the contractors, Messrs WaiI pole and Patterson, of Wanganui. He reminded the younger generation of the significance of the gates, which he I pointed out were there from that day onwards—they belong to the public of Waitotara. Ho impressed upon the assemblage the necessity for looking after and preserving the monument to ‘the memory of the men who served and 'fell in the Great War. Mr. Grove (apologised for the unavoidable absence |of Colonel Munro, and Father Phelan of Patea. 3 Pride in Sacrince. I Colonel W. Cunningham, D. 5.0., said he was deeply honoured at being asked ito speak in connection with the ceremony. He proceeded to congratulate Ithe people of Waitotara on having ( erected in their midst their own inemlorial of the Great War. He thought I structures of that nature would always I serve a useful purpose as landmarks for posterity, by which they would be ■taught the sacrifices made during the • War. Speaking of the War, which was I now several years behind them, he [thought that his hearers might on. the [present occasion think as Ruskin did, I when he used the following words:

[“Great nations learned their truth of Iword ami strength of thought in war; [they were nourished in war and wasted |by peace; trained by war and belt rayed by peace; in a word, that they j were born iu war, and expired in ■ peace.” The War, added the speaker, (was past and the boom over, and they also hoped that the times of trial and trouble that attended the slump, the. aftermath of war, were also past and that they had now entered into the still waters of peace and prosperity. Their thoughts that day naturally turned to the men of the Waitotara district who went to the War and never returned. Time had softened the grief of the relatives of those men, and he hoped that they were inspired by the noble spirit with which they laid down their lives. There was pride in glorious death, and their boys had purchased something with their lives and handed it on to posterity. It was their duty, I therefore, to live up to their example and motto which was service and sacriIfice before self. In the landmarks that (they had erected in their cities and 'townships and villages throughout. New Zealand were to serve their real pur- | pose, they must keep constantly in the minds of their growing boys and girls the lessons to be learned from the noble sacrifices of their men who fell on the battlefields. If the. young people were taught, when they passed the gates, to ask whether they were worthy of the sacrifices made in order that they might have peace and prosperity and be able to uphold the principles of the British race of truth, freedom and justice, then the landmarks would have served their right and useful purpose. Captain E. A. Marchant, president of (the R.S.A., expressed the opinion that they could not have too many of these ■memorials throughout the country. (That, be admitted, was contrary to the [viewpoint of some, who contended that one central memorial was all that was ■ necesary. They wanted the memorials as an object lesson to the children of the country. They could not produce a better example for the children to emulate than the men who laid down their lives during the war. He thought New Zealand was poorer to-day for the loss of those men, and all he asked of the parents and teachers of the children was to use these memorials as object lessons to teach the younger generation to love God, Duty and their Country. The Opening Ceremony. /

: In performing the ceremony, Mr. ■ H. G. Dickie, M.P. for the Patea electorate, said that he felt that no greater honour could be conferred upon him than to ask him to open the memorial gates in memory of those comrades of his and other returned men who laid down their lives during the War that was to make this world safe for democracy. A pleasing feature of the ceremony was the large asemblage of Maori soldiers who took part in the great conflict. The Maoris of Waitotara had volunteered in the same proportion as the white citizens. Thirty years ago the natives’ fathers had met the Euro-

peans in deadly conflict, and it spoke volumes for the benificcnce of British rule that in the War they saw fit to go overseas and fight against the Empire’s aggressors. The speaker made passing reference to the memorials that were being erected in the Old Country in honour of their dead, and said that he had been present at the service in connection with the burial of the Unknown Warrior. In Waitotara they had erected a fine memorial to the men who had paid the supreme sacrifice for their Empire and country. He hoped that whenever the young people passed through the gates they would never fail to remember that loyalty and devotion to duty were the underlying principles of the men who laid down their lives. It was indeed fitting that Waitotara should have erected the memorial. The gates load into the recreation ground, and, as New Zealanders were fond of sport the gates would remind users of the area of the fact that men who had died were, too, good sports. The speaker made mention of the terrific problems that faced the Government since the War in regard to attending to the requirements of returned men, and requested that if there were any cases requiring assistance in the district that they be directed to his notice.

Continuing, Mr. Dickie said that practically the whole of civilisation was shaken to the foundations by the Great War, which was now seven years past, and they hoped that now there had been some definite step taken to ensure more or less permanent peace. The Locarno Pact had been passed, and he trusted there would never be a conflict of such magnitude as the last war. The Battle of Waterloo would only have been an incident in the last great conflict. They knew that the best guarantee of peace was to be prepared

for war, and so they had to have warlike preparations in their midst. He hoped in conclusion that the gates would always serve their purpose in reminding those who ; assed under them of the sacrifices made, and trusted that there would not he another war which would necessitate Waitotara or any other place in the country losing a son. Mr. Dickie then formally declared the gates to be open. Little Misses Thelma C. Hurley and |Betty Watson then laid laurel wreaths lat the foot of the gates, and the Last Post was played. The ceremony concluded with Benediction and the singing of Kipling’s Recessional: “Almighty Father Strong To Save” and “God Save the King.” The procession proceeded back to the township, where afternoon tea was provided for the visitors.