BRIDGE OF REMEMBRANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 33, 9 February 1933, Page 10

BRIDGE OF REMEMBRANCE

;* "^ ._^_ be a great disappointment to me if Christehurch does not haye'a War Mlemorial,"; said Sir E. Heatb±Hio_es at the -meeting Monday afternoon of subscribers to the Christchurch .War Memorial .Qolumn Fund (reports the "Christehurch Times"). "Personally,'l he added, "I have never lookedupontheßridge of Eemembrance as a true memorial, to those who gave therrliyes. I have always looked upon it as a.memorial to those who walked backwards and forwards over the bridge there and .left for the Great War. It recalls* to me memories vof the South African Contingents and countless Territorials: s_d Volunteers. Good as the arch is; it never has seemed to me to identify, itself *with* those who'gave their lives in the Great-War."" Sir Heaton said he had always pictured; to himself a memorial in the heart of the city where wreaths could be- left on Arizac Day, and he would be very sorry if :the subscribers to the fund did-not' decide to erect a memorial—and a good memorial—in the heart of the city. An opposite view was expressed by the next speaker, Mr. J. O. Jameson.' "I think," he said, 'ffthat Christehurch has ■ a memorial that is equal to, if not better than, any other in the Dominion." "I don't regard the bridge as a memorial to the dead," said the Eev. P. H. Pritchett. He added that there were no names on the bridge, and as.the years passed it would tend, to lose its significance; He felt strongly that there should bo a memorial to all those who gave their lives in the war, and it should be a memorial with names. In his opinion that was due to the friends and relatives of the fallen. "Wo are bound to have a memorial to those who gavo their lives," said Mr. George Harper. '' The arch wa3 not given for that purpose, and Christehurch is behind all other places in New Zealand in this respect." "