WEST EYRETON MEMORIAL.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17472, 5 June 1922, Page 5

WEST EYRETON MEMORIAL.

UNVEILED BY MR MASSEY. The unveiling of the West Eyreton soldiers' memorial was performed yesterday afternoon by the Prime Minister in the presence of a large number of settlers from the surrounding district. The memorial is in the form of * pair of iron gates, surmounted by a substantial arch of brick and red stone, at the entrance to the gfounds of the public hall. On each side of the gates is a pillar of stone and brick, and the low fence is carried out in similar materials. Above the arch the stonework is built up in a rectangular shape, and on the concrete coping at the top of the structure are the words, "Lest We Forget." Below is the inscription, "Great War, 1914-18, and on the stone gate-posts are marble tablets, each bearing the name of one of the two West Eyreton boys who fell in the war, E. Plank and G. Smith. When Mr Massey and his party ar« rived shortly after 3 o'clock, there was a gathering of between 400 and ow people awaiting him. He was met by Mr F. G. Horrell, chairman of the local committee, and took a seat on the platform, accompanied by the Hon. D. Buddo, Colonel F. Symon, Mr D. Jones, M.P., the Revs. G. G. Howes, and J. Hay. Among the visitors from Christchurch were Mr A. «• Henderson, president of the bury Progress League, and Mr P. R. Climie, official organiser of the League. The gathering joined in singing the hymn, "O Goa our xieln," and th 9 Per. G. G. Howes offered prayer. Kipling's Recessional wa3 sung and the "Rev. J. Hay read a lesson from the Scriptures. _ _ .i. i. The chairman said that it might be wondered why that site had been chosen for the memorial, but it meant to West Eyreton very much what Cashel street bridge meant to Christchurch. It was there the West Eyreton boys had gathered in the evenings for the fiocial affairs of the district and it was in the hall behind the gates where they had assembled for the last time before leaving for the war. Colonel F. Symon, representing Col- | onel R. Young, O.C. Southern Command, said that while he extended his full sympathy to the relatives of the boys who had fallen, he knew their sorrow was lessened by the pride with which their names would be always remembered, not only by the relatives, but by the future generations. As a member of the N.Z.E.F., he had some knowledge of the worth of the New Zealand soldiers, their courage and eelf-sacrifice, and the splendid example they set. If the "torch they 'flung" were carried on by those left behind their sacrifice would not have been in vain. '

MB MASSEY'S ADDRESS. Mr Massey said that he esteemed it a very great privilege to be present to unveil a memorial to perpetuate the memory of those, gallant lads who made the supreme sacrifice in order that we might live and enjoy liberty. Though they rested now in peace, their names ana deeds would live for ever. Who would have thought in 1914, he asked, that this little country would send 100,000 men to fight for tne Empire? They aid their duty, and the best way in which we cpuld perpetuate their memories was by doing our duty now, living lives worthy of the men who made the sacrifice and worthy of those who did their duty in this country without ever leaving it —the parents who showed their sons where their duty lay. Not only in the army did the New Zealandera serve, for there, was not one sea-fight in which New Zealandera, although sometimes in limited numbers, did not take part. It had fallen to his lot to see a great deal of the work of the mercantile marine, for he had crossed the Atlantic six times while the war was on, and he knew that no matter how those seamen suffered in wrecks and by exposure in open boats, they never turned their backs on their jobs. There had never been anything like the Great War before in the world's history, Mr Massey continued. Seventeen thousand of our boys never came back—their bones rested in foreign soil and some lay at the bottom of the seas. They would never be forgotten, though graves were scatered far and wide —on Gallipoli, in Palestine and in. France. The proudest page in the hisr tory of the wax was that which recorded the readiness of the response to the summons for men. The Government asked for men and they came faster than they could be taken into the camps. A number went to Australia and England to enlist, so eager were .they to serve, and we honoured the meniory of those New Zealanders who had fallen while serving with the British and Australian forces just as ap we ■ honoured those who died while serving in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Mr Massey proceeded that for centuries past our'armies and navies had been preserved in a wonderful manner.' support of this statement he showed how the proud Armada of Philip of Spain had been destroyed upon the shores or Ireland and Scotland before it had made what was intended to be a victorious assault on the British Fleet. Again at the battle of the Nile had the British been preserved through their unexpected attack on the fleet of the would-be invaders, and at Waterloo, when the manpower of Britain was almost exhaustea, the tide had been turned against the French. Then came the the world had ever seen. The Prime Minister went on to give a condensed, but graphic description of the ©utstanding incidents in tne big struggle. referred to the "contemptible army ot 120,000 which had been sent over to stem. the Gentian rush, and touched upon the Marne batge, the Hons retreat, and the long period of waiting when the tide °[ backward? and forwards, until the Groat Push of March 18th, 1918. "I wi never forget tliat Easter Monday, sa j Mr Massey. ' I tow the only Mm'stei in Wellington on that day, ajid I received two telegrams from Mr Lloyd George—one a private cable telling me of the serious danger, and the othei the appeal to the Government for men. Then came the time, most serious of all, when a summons was sent to aiLl the Prime Ministers to come to England at once." Mr Massey told of the councils held with the British Prime Minister at his breakfast table, the decision to place the Allied armies under the command of Foch, and the receipt of more encouraging news. Ihe British lost 300,0C0 men, but they were replaced within a month. Mr Massey showed how the British had risen aboro each new difficulty, finding a means of combating each fresh menace, poison gas, Zeppelins, and submarines. It was not known during the war, but tho number of submarines caught or sunk totalled 203. "Sometimes I hear of people who don't believe in a Supreme Being," said Mr Massey. "I can't imagine people denying Providence--there is a Providence." He believed thei words which occurred in the Scriptures —"no weapon that is formed against Thee shall prosper"—applied to our Empire. He was not one of those who believed that we had heard the last of war, though he did "not wish for more strife. He believed that when war did oome again it would come from Northern Europe—Germany and Russia, and they would be a powerful combination. He did not say this would happen next year or in ten years, but it was for us ! to sav that the manhood of the nation would stand up as it did in 1914. It i was for us to learn the lesson, of tbe llafit war, and to shape our lives acI oar ding to those of the men and women

who had died. Above all, we ahould see that this little country of ours, sometimes called the "Britain of the South," emulated that other country which was the cradle of the race, and make it, so far as truth and integrity were concerned, a beacon to the other nations of the Empire, and perhaps to the world. Mr Massey then unveiled the memorial gates. The gathering sang the hvmn ' Pence, Perfect Peace, and the 'Last Post" was sounded. Several beautiful wreaths, including a large laurel wreath from the returned soldiers of the district, were placed upon the gates, aind the ceremony concluded with the singing of the National Anthem.