VICE-REGAL TOUR

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 135, 4 December 1929, Page 12

VICE-REGAL TOUR

A BUSY DAY

THE AWAPUNI MEMORIAL

(Special to "The Evening Post.")

PALMERSTON is 1., This Day.

Their Excellencies Sir Charles and Lady Alice Fergusson paid their farewell visit to Palmerston North yesterday with a round of functions lasting rrom early morning to late evening. Palmerston's three secondary schools were visited in the morning, and in the afternoon the memorial erected to the members of tho New Zealand Army Medical Corps was unveiled at the Awapuni racecourse, tho site of the camp during the Great War. In the afternoon Sir Charles visited the Public Hospital, where he unveiled a memorial to the late Sir James Wilson. In the evening His Excellency attended perhaps the largest Masonic gathering ever held in Palmerston North, while Lady Alice ■ Fergusson was the guest of honour at an evening given by the Plunket Society, the league of Mothers, and the Mothers' Union. This morning Their Excellencies visited the Massey Agricultural College, where Sir Charles laid the foun-dation-stone of the now college, and at 1 p.m. the Vice-Regal party were the guests at a civic luncheon, followed by a public farewell in the Square. AT AWAPUNI. There was a large gathering at the racecourse yesterday afternoon, including many returned soldiers, members of the Army Medical Corps, and visitors from all over New Zealand. Speakers at the ceremony were Major-General Young, C.8., C.M.G., G.O.C. New Zealand Forces, Colonel Tracey Inglis,' C.8.E., V.D., Director of Medical Services, and Colonel Parkes, C.M.G., C.8.E., V.D. Returned members of the N.Z.M.C. paraded, and a guard of honour was provided by A, B, and D Cadet Companies of the Fourth Cadet Battalion, Wellington and West Coast Regiment, under Captain Gilshnan and Lieutenant Edwards. The Garrison Band was also on parade.

At the conclusion of the ceremony wreaths from the Palmerston North branch of the E.S.A., N.Z. Medical Corps, and the Manawatu Kaeing Club, were laid on the memorial. The hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light," was sung prior to the addresses, which were followed by a prayer led by Padre G. T. Brown, M.A., and the hymn, "O. God Our Help in Ages Past." The padre's pronouncement of the Benediction and the sounding of the "Last Post" completed a simple and very impressive ceremony.

The speakers were introduced by the president of the Manawatu Racing Club, Mr. Charles Louisson, who referred to the many friendships which had grown out of the N.Z.M.C. camp at Aw puni during the war. The memorial, which he would have pleasure in asking His Excellency to unveil, had been designed by the late secretary of the club, the late Mr. J. M. Johnston, who had supervised its construction. It was a matter for'very deep regret that Mr. Johnston had not lived to see this consummation of his ideas.

After General Young, Colonel Tracy Inglis, and Colonel Parkes had spoken, His Excellency was called on to unveil the memorial. "Only by love, and sympathy, and sacrifice for our fellow-men can we repay tho debt we owe these- men whose memory we are commemorating," concluded Sir Charles. "We must make of duty something more than a word. We must see that their deeds are not forgotten, and that each one of us does what is in his power to teach those coming after him that only by selfsacrifice can a nation become great and prosperous and blessed. During the war period, our inspiration was loyalty to King arid Empire, but now that the war is over, we must still have that inspiration. Let us take our inspiration from loyalty to Him who is the great Healer and-Physician."