ROLL OF HONOUR UNVEILED

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 54, 26 November 1921, Page 7

ROLL OF HONOUR UNVEILED

THE WELLINGTON GAS COMPANY. A roll of honour, containing the names of 57. employees who joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, was unveiled in the Wellington Gas Company's office yesterday afternoon. There was a large, "attendance, including the following directors:—Dr. C. P. Knight, Messrs. <l. F, Pearce, G. .Fitzgerald, A. L. Warburton, and 11. Beauchamp, practically all the employees, Major W. J. Hardham, V. Mr. R. J. F. Aldrich, representing the Returned Soldiers’ Association, and Mr. J. H. Helliwcll, the late secretary. The chairman said that when h 0 unvailed the memorial tablet erected by the-men-at Miramar gasworks in memory of their brave comrades who gave their lives in the Great War, ho stated it was tho intention of the Gas Company to have erected in the city building a roll bf honour to contain the names of all its men who had joined the Expeditionary Force. They were, therefore; assembled that afternoon to -honour the memory of those who have fallen and to rejoice with those who had fought and come back to their homes and -friends. The roll of honour contained the names of 57 men who joined tho Expeditionary Force, ■of whom 15 ti’erc killed. The names of the men who made the supreme sacrifice were: F., E. Bullard,. A. S. Crowther. .JI. Gisborne. J. Hardy, H. Jones. A. Pope. F. Stevens. W. Waite, W. Chirnside. J. G. Faulkner, H. Hallam, A. J. Hosio. A. T. Perry, A. E„ and G. Tait. .. The names of those who bore lheir part in the war and who returned, were: H. .J. Alexan-

der. J. IT.'av. T. Burns. E. P. Carman, R. D. Christie. "R. Clayton. -F. Cooper; A. H- Coward. D. Dennehy. S. H. Dorpson, H. A. Ferrell. P. A. Glennie. W. H Boden C. V. Broad. G. Campbell, J.’Carney. W. T>. Church. W. B. Cooke, ,W; E. Co’-beft. J. A. Cnllinm A. L. Dentice. A.- F.. Evenson. W. J. Forb°», T. Goldsworthy. -T. Hall. ’T<. TTcok, T. Lear. J. McCarthy. H. V. Morris. J. J. North. A. E- Price jun.. B. J. Shariow. C. Stevens. E. H-ffer. V. .Tones, C. S. T-nke. TV. D. .McWilliams. J. A. NieoL G. A. Petherick. T. Shnn.ahah, W. H. Smailbou". and B. B. Will nni«.

Tn addition to the'r- value from an historic and personal record, these memorials hnd another and permanent function—the nrrnetnal reminder to all Who saw them of the first duty of all eomniunities to defend themselves from foreign aggression. If was no doubt a truism that history repeated itsi-lf. Nothing Was more certain that under the pressuf:' of economic need and fear of starvation great migrations of the-Jiu-niah' race took place, and gave-birth to wars of practical extermination. Vae victis (woe io the conquered). Already in New Zealand’s history' had the operation of thi? law'heen more than once dWived. 'The great migration of the Maoris in the canoes Arawa, Tainui, Takitimu. Matatua. Kuralpaupo, was the. first instance, and this was the result of too great a population in the Poly-, nesian -Islands whence they came. The second instance was the migration of the. Ngafifoas and Ngnt’nwa from Knwln’n to Kaniti. Port Nicholson, and the South Island. The result of pressure from the north of the conquering Ngapuhi, The third instance was the conquest' of the Chatham Islands- by Poma re and his tribesmen. The lesson to be derived from this was for Now Zealand to be prepared. New Zealand should never forgot that she was a fertile island, thinly populated: that she was situated, in the South Pacific, and flint Japan. China, and Malaya had all large teeming populations that some d.av must fight for life. This memorial tablet would, be a permanent warning to all who visited the company’s office that the men whose names were recorded thereon took up the rifle for the defence of their country. The directors fMt proud to exhibit this roll, which would always stand out as a most distinguished event in the history of the Wellington Gas Company.