THEIR DUTY DONE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 230, 23 June 1919, Page 6

THEIR DUTY DONE

THE LESSONS OF THE SOLDIER

A MEMORIAL UNVEILED

A Roll of Honour' of the soldiers of the Island Bay Baptist Church Sunday School , was unveiled by the Minister of Defence, Sir Janies Allen, yesterday afternoon. A religious service was held for tho occnsion in the Island Buy Town Hall, and nil 1 the .seating accommodation was occupied. It had been intended that the unveiling act should be performed by iJlts. Keeno, the names of four of Whose sons appear on the Toll, but she was prevented by illness from being pro-, sent. The Rev. j. W. Butler presided. Major Wallingford, who is a resident of Island Bay, was present, also Mr. 15. A.' Wright, M.P., member for the district. In the service solog were sung by Miss Jennings and Mr. Leonard Barnes, and the choir sang anthems. Mr. Butler said that the 801 l of Honour was being erected by the Island Bay Worshipping Children's League, in honour of those boys who had been scholars at the Sunday School. He hoped, hd said, that the service would prove to have been held in celebration of the conclusion of peace. Sir James Alien said ho wished to congratulate the scholars of the school on having obtained this memorial. He was , sufe it 'would he of great value to them, and to the school, and to tho scholars yet to enter the school, for it would always stand as an emblem of duty done. He wished he had'been able to tell them thai the Government had received official news that peace had been signed, but unfortunately no such news had been received. He hoped tba+i in a few hours they would hear that pence had been signed. The Minister referred to one nam9 on tjjp roil, that of Captain Nicol> M.C., killed in action. /This soldier had died a soldier's death, mid it must bo a great, consolation to hig relatives that he had done his duty bo well as to earn the po'niupndation nf his Sovereign. The inr scription of his-name of tho RoM of Honour would.l>e a constant reminder to the boys of the school of the great sacrifice made in a great cause by one who had formerly been a pupil in their school. It was his duty to inform the relatives of Captain Nicol and those others who had lost sons on foreign soil that provision was being made By the Imperial Government, in which the New Zealand Government was joining, to take care of the graves of fallen soldiers of the Empire wherever they might bein Egypt, in Palestine, in Gallipoli, or in France. Tho Imperial War "Graves Commission had engaged i)he best architects and the best horticulturists in Britain to design the monuments and to lay out the cemeteries. The graves would be planted with shrubs, l trees and flowers, and kept beautiful. There would be two special memorials in everv cemetery—one a huge (ablet of stone hearing upon it n proper inscription, and the otner a simple cross of suitable dimensions, the one monument to signify duty done and the other the emblem of sacrifice. At the head of each.individual grave would bo erected a stone of smaller -diniensiciiD. The New Zealand authorities were to devise their own headstone, ami samples had already been obtained of designs and stones. He spoke also of the return of the men and their absorption into civil life. These men had come through a tremendous amount of experience in the .years that they had been with the Army, and it was his opinion, as it was his hope also, that if the men brought into their civil lives the lessons of duty and sacrifice learned with tho Army, they would be of great help to the country in the years to come. It was true that some of the ' men had been brought into close touch with some things tnat. were evil, but it was'easy to exaggerate tho evil men.mot with in the training camps and in the trenches. There were influences for good in the training camps and in the trenches, just as strong as the influences for evil. He thought it might safely be said that those men who came into traiuing camps good went out better men than when they cainq in. A certain amount of evil came into the camps with some men, but it was grievous as some people thought. The proportion of very bud.men was from three to five per cent, not a very heary percentage. Many of the very bad were reformed. Some' became worse, but some of the bad were unquestionably reformed. He thought the chaplains of the Bap-: tish Church would say that the influence of the camps 'had been good. Major Wallingford, M.C., being invited to speak, expressed hia satisfaction with the idea of erecting, tablets of this character in memory of'the soldiers who had done their duty. These memorials stood as recognition of duty done, and as emblema of sympathy. Sympathy appealed most strongly to the soldier, and ho said 'that many of the men returning needed sympathy above all things. He knew what gallant souls they had been, for he had seen them going through the fire, lit" especially pleaded for sympathetic treatment for those men who had been to the war. and had come back changed. He referred also to the heroism of Captain Nicol, who had Volunteered for a most hazardous expedition, knowing the risks of it, an expedition which had meant, *s it turned'out, certain death. He was an example of heroic eelf-sacrifice, and he must have met his death , conscious of duty done. After the memorial was unveiled "0~Save the King" was sung, and buglers sounded "The Last Post."