LONE HEROES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2742, 10 April 1916, Page 3

LONE HEROES

SCOTT MEMORIAL PRIZES

The presentation of prizes in connection with th'e Oamaru Scott Antarctic Memorial Committee took' place 011 Thursday afternoon. Mr. W. H. Roso presided, and seats on the platform wore occupied by' Captain Stenhouse (commander of tho Aurora), the Hon. J. A. Hanan, Mr. E.,P- Leo, M.P., the Mayor of Oamaru, -the rector of the Waitaki Boys' High School, and many leading citizens. Mr. Rose explained the object of tlie meeting, w'hich was to commemorate Captain Scott and his comrades, who perished in the Antarctic. The Hon. Mr. Hanan said l they sought to commemorate with all reverence that little,band of heroes tiie story of whose sublime courage and sacrifice could never fade from human memory. Away in the blizzard-swept wastes of the Antarctic was a lonely cairn marking tho spol where the noblest bani of victims evei olaimed by the winding sheets of Soutl Polar snows died one by one to tho cal of duty—faithful to the last. The whol< story was one of simple, lvanly heroism of success modestly achieved, of hard ships faced with a courage and a for titude that would inspiro tho sons 0 Britain for all time. Had Antarctic ex ploration done no more than give u the inspiration of the example to b found in the struggles and death of Cap tain Scott and his. comrades,' it co,uld' no be said it was not worth while. To-da; the record of Captain .Scott and hi fellow heroes appealed to us with a neT thrill of inspiration. The survivors 0 that memorable expedition, who hai figured in our Navy's strennons worl since the war began, had proved agan and again how the lesson of that steri ordeaf had burned into their souls Might they not say that the unconquer able spirit of Captain Scott held invis ible eivay over Uho British Navy in it long sleepless vigil, and that in the sis ter service our soldeirs. who endured un told extremities in shell-torn trenches were animated by the spirit which in spired Captain Oates in the strange!; moving act bv which in the losing o his life he exalted it? Those lone fig ures, lying amid the snows of Antarc tica, were mighty preachers of the in domitablo heroism of our race. The su preme lesson that came to us witli' aj) pealing insistence was the losson of dis cipline and duty. Was there any won der that Britain ruled the waves? Wtu there any misgiving that when thii troubled. night of danger and the wai storm was past, the flag, of Englanc would not hold its old pre-eminence, ii honour as in victory? We asked wistfully if we had", the moral fibre of oui pioneer forefathers?. .It might be saic that the 40.000 New. Zealanders wht had. cheerfully offered their lives foi their country furnished a sufficient answer, but he was not asking the. question as regarded them. It was to tlu very mucli larger number who could nol go to the front, and the others whe showed no purpose of offering themselves that.- this self-examination applied. The fact that so many of the gallant sons of New Zoaland had earned a. recognition which- we could- nevei repay or' express should make us doubly bound to look well what corruptbc influences might be weakening our efficiency as a-nation, and by what means wo could sliow 'in tho future that' we were" at least worth saving from tho tender mercies. of the Huns. -■ It ..was not for the sake of gold that Scott and his fellow heroeG went out.to reach the South Pole, and it was pot for the sake of earning money that our brave boys went, out to fight for King and Empire, but to givo out their efforts for the good.-.o'fTothers. In conclusion • he referred "to "'the' gallant lads, who ?. few years ago were ocnnpvin*; the desks in the schools of New Zealand, including hundreds from tjio schools of North Otago and -Oamoru. All of them had played the man in this grim ordeal of war. They had .so nobly upheld the traditions, of our history at Galhpoli that to he an Anzac was to hear a wreath niore ■honourable than crown, or coronet. ' They wcra nnblv upholding those traditions on the hills of Thrace, , on the plains of Mesopotamia, on the dreary wastes of Western Egypt, and i» the devastated fields of, France. From 1 these fighting men tho anpeal must foucll us sti'l moro intimately—the mute appeal of thoir sacrifice in nraing that wo should not fail in that discipline of self-denial and' strenuous effort' _b.v :which w© .mijdit be worthy of having . such sons, such brothers,- such citizens, 1 of our cherished island home. ■ ' Captain' Stenhoiisc referred t-6 one or two members of Captain Scott's-party who were now helping in the war. Fc ; passed over the spot-' where Captain ' Scott and comrades died. Ho read out a portion of the Inst letter which Captain Scott, wroto to Mrs. Wilson with rpfer--1 once to her husband. He said he lioiv ■ cd to get away ream in October, al- ' though, they would have to wait out- ' side the* ice nntil tho gates opened for ' prizesVero presented by Captain Stenhonse. '