IN MEMORY OF WAR SACRIFICES

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 33, 8 February 1935, Page 34 (Supplement)

IN MEMORY OF WAR SACRIFICES

What is the News? What led to the;issue of newspapers? Most people would say it was Caxton's discovery of printing. That would be incorrect. First:be-, cause Caxton did: not invent printing. Ulrich Zel, the first printer at Cologne, ;has recorded that the "most worthy art" was invented "first of all in Germany at Mainz on the Rhine; in .the; year of our Lord 1440." The'lnventor, wa?. Gutenberg. Willianv Caxtqn vlearnt ruY craf t at Cologne and did not set up his -press at ; the. Almonry in; Westminster until.- Michaelmasj '. 1476.1 But neither Gutenberg nor Caxton nor any other-printer may be regarded-as the father of the modern newspaper. Printing Has merely"; facilitated the production of something that would have been,produced somehow, in any cir-; cumstances to satisfy one of the strongest desiresof intelligent, man. "What is the news?^yis the.;' question asked today, and thie answer; is'given in; the second edition.'But the same .question hasbeen, askedfor uhtoldcenturies. After his dinner the city man takes his paper. That.has-been the' order: thrpughnhe ages. First food, then 'news. China has (or it may now be had) a paper!; which;lias appeared regularly, from the time'of' the Tang Dynasty (seventh century). It is "the/ Pekiiigv.Gazette" and another, "The . Peking News,''-is"supposed to date back to the sixth century. Ancient Rome had the "Acta Diurna," first issued by command of Julius Caesar about 50 B.C. It contained notifications of decrees and other official news and also some record of private events, the games, births, deaths, and marriages. Copies were posted up from day to day in public places, and occasionally were circulated privately in the provinces. But one can go even further back for evidence of what may be variously described as intelligent interest in the events of the day or (when one does not approve it) public curiosity—for what was the Epic of Gilgamesh, found in the palace of Assur-bani-pal, King of Assyria at Nineveh, but a record of notable events? The King's library copy (on tablets) was evidently the latest edition, too, for his collection was made in the Seventh Century B.G.j and an earlier fragment of the same story, can be dated back to 2000 B.C. This is the earliest-known journalistic, "scoop," and as one piece of news was the Flood 'it was possibly the biggest. It deserved a second edition. About the same date (some authorities think even 500 years. earlier) the other part, of the journalist's mission, (views, as distinguished1 from news) had its earliest expression when an ancient priest wrote.the first leading article, the "Maxims of Ptah-hetep." It was not one of the short and snappy variety which find a certain1 vogue today but covered a roll of eighteen columns. It is now known as'the Papyrus Prisse and is preserved in Paris. The writer laments that things are not as they were in his youth. So the Conservative leader-writer may claim to have been first in the field.

STANDING almost at the antipodes of the main battlefields, New "Zealand escaped much of the horror and misery of the Great, War of. 19.14-18. But she took, her full share/of; responsible action out of her small population; 101,651 men were trained to arms and were carried to the fighting fronts;, nearly 117,000- men lost, their lives, and over 41*000 were wounded. The sacrifice of life, is recorded in many worthy memorials, and there are 'two ;of outstanding character and beauty in Wellington—the National War Memorial Carillon, and theVCitizens' War Memorial. The carillon stands on, one .of.the most commanding sites in the ■Iqwer levels of the city, the low mound known as Mount Cook. This site,was long occupied bya-huge brick building, originally designed as aprisony.'but.usedas the headquarters, of the pefencesßejbartment. • The old "barracks" were a;, veiy:;gpr6minerit landmark. This . has .'. dis•a.ppeared,;tp>be replaced by a finer" and nobler pile of buildings, of which" the carillon tower will be. the loftiest; feature. The site, of. the , tower; is; 87 feet, above searlevel, and the tower .itself-is 166 feet^in'height^ ;Buildihgs are now beingxqnstructed.behind-.the tower, to house the National-Art Gallery and"; Dominion Museum, and the' whole group will be a very fine feature of the central portion of the city. The adoption of the Mount Cook scheme was brought asout primarily by the action of the War Memorial Carillon Society' in obtaining from the Government, in 1926, a grant of £15,000 towards the cost of the tower, and inducing the'bodies concerned-to agree to the Mt. Cook site for the new, museum and art gallery. The Massey Government had offered £100,000 towards the .cost of these buildings, provided the citizens of Wellington contributed a similar amount. A board of trustees was established by act of Parliament, and Mr. G. A. Troup, C.M.G., Mayor of the city, conducted a campaign to collect the citizens' contributions. The foundationstone ©f the tower was laid in May, 1931, and the tower and bells were dedicated, in a very im-

pressive ceremony, on Anzac Day, 1932.Carillon recitals are given on the anniversaries of a large number of the principal events in which the New Zealand forces were engaged in the Great War. The carillon was first heard in a number of recitals, played by Mr. Clifford Ball, of Bourneville, one of the world's best carillonists. Miss Gladys Watkins is the official carillonist. PROVISION OF THE BELLS. . . In May, 1926, the. society invited the donation of individual bells, and. received no less than 7.7 applications within one week. It was the most successful appeal ever ..made in the his-, tory of the city. The. first installation, being re- ; stricted to 49 bells, with provision in the . ap^ paratus for extension to 61, the society was confronted with the difficulty of making the necessary allocations,' but this was met by conceding all next-6f-kin claims and applications .by N.Z.E.F. units, and; by merging other interests iri bigger bells than they had individually ap : plied for. Thirty-tliree bells were alloted to next-of-kin, in respect of men killed in action or died of wounds 'or disease, and in this connection it is worthy'of note that one bell, was donated in memory of three sons, one of three brothers, three in each case of two sons, two in each,case of two brothers, and one of two sons-in-law. Six bells, representing "Battle Honours," the last tribute to fallen comrades, were allocated to N.Z.E.F. units, and all are in a group, thus preserving the tradition of common service in the field. The "bourdon* bell went to the men of Wellington City and suburbs, and other large bells to the New Zealand Division, the Anzacs, the N.Z. Mounted Rifles, the Royal Navy, and the British Mercantile Marine.

The tender for the supply of the carillon wa9 let in July, 1927, to Messrs. Gillett and Johnston, Ltd., of Croyden, England, at a.price of £10,512, plus £150 for the inscriptions. This was for a weightier set of bells than originally intended, and involved an extra cost of £812,

of newsletters, often written by men who made that their profession. Some of the collections of these newsletters have been preserved and are. valuable historical records. The newsletter continued even after the printed newspaper took form, because it was not subject to licensing and therefore.enjoyed greater freedom. Licensing and all manner of restrictions hindered the early ;development of the printed, newspaper. In fact modern dictators who think they have instituted something new in rigid press control may be termed old fashioned. The Continent was publishing newsbooks in the sixteenth century. The "Mercurius Gallobelgicus," a Latin chronicle of events, a sort of annual register, was produced at Cologne and led to the publication of similar chronicles in England. But these at first were limited to foreign news, as, up to 1641, the-printing of domestic news was barred by the royal prerogative. Even these "Corantos" (frgm "Courant or Weekly Newes from foreign parts") were checked by a Star Chamber edict in 1632 •forbidding the publication of foreign news, the abolition of the Star Chamber in 1641 freed the Press, but not permanently.

If we trace subsequent developments, we find variations in the way of meeting the demand, but it is always the same demand: news and views. The Babylonian record produced with great pains on tablets of clay for one Royal subscriber could not be recognised as related to the "Daily Mail" (described by Lord Northcliffe as "our^modest little violet") with its million circulation. Yet one can trace the descent, or, using a less ambiguous term, the connection. . Even when.printing was invented it was not immediately applied, for the production of newspapers. %<*&* cews was circulated, by means

In 1643 Parliament re-established censorship of all printed works. The event is worth noting, for it led to the publication in 1(544 of John

Milton's "Areopagitica," that powerful plea from the Puritan's pen for the liberty of unlicensed printing. The Press does not honour Miltori as it should. Of course his style would not be popular today. A leading article on the lines of "Areopagitica" would run to eighteen columns of "The Post" and simply would not be read. One may doubt also if there would be keen bidding for the serial rights of "Paradise Lost." But Milton was a champion of newspaper rights. He was editor, also, for a year or so, oi "Mercurius Politicus," a licensed periodical issued at a peculiarly difficult period. The Commonwealth Parliament had just lifted a ban-under which even the licensed press had been suppressed and its place taken Jby official journals. With the possibility of "further suppression, or worse, an editor needed courage. One of the principal writers for the journal which Milton edited was Marchamont Nedham, of whom a reliable historian wrote: "History has no personage so shamelessly cynical as Marchamont Nedham, with his powerful pen and his political convictions ever ready to be enlisted on the side of the highest bidder; he even wrote for Charles II in later years." This was not the end of Press censorship. Far from it. Olher Governments from time to time

TWO BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTES TO WAR VICTIMS

which was, promptly met by the donors providing the additional amount required. The first recital was'given at the Croyden Bell Foundry on April 10,-1929, and, pending the erection of the National "War Memorial Tower in Wellington to house the bells, the carillon ' was loaned to the Newcastle-on-Tyne Exhibition, and tp the authorities of Hyde Park, London, where in 1929 and 1930 it delighted hundreds of thousands of listeners and became the most famous and popular carillon in the British Isles. .: ; THE CITIZENS' MEMORIAL. _ One of the finest and most beautiful memorials in the British Empire, the Wellington Citizens' War Memorial, which was dedicated on April •17, 1932, stands on a commanding site at the corner of.Bowen Street and Lambton Quay, facing the main entrance gates to Parliament Grounds. Strictly symbolical in form, it is built of white Sicilian marble, and is surmounted by a magnificent bronze casting.. Its fine massing iand silhouette at once compel the attention and reverence of the onlooker.. ■ . - Approached by a handsome series of steps and flanked by high sculptured panels in bas relief, it presents a central shrine, supporting a noble pylon, which, rising to a height of 65 feet, bears the mounted figure of "Victorious Youth," with one arm raised aloft. The flanking panels, leading to the shrine, tell their story of the war. The authors of the design aimed at giving concrete form to the ideal of the committee, which was to "erect a memorial, which, by nobility of conception, and perfection of execution, would symbolise the glory and perpetuate the memory of the men of Wellington City and suburbs who gave their lives at the call of the Empire." The designers felt that, not only should the facts of sacrifice made and victory won be recorded, but that something finer and beyond these should be included. Victorious Peace, coming after Wch a deluge of blood and tears, they consider-

Ed, would be but a vain achievement if we were content to rest on the laurels so won, and the determination of this Dominion to see to it that some finer-tlung should eventuate has been presented.

The sacrifice of life and hope is indicated in the two bas-relief panels—one showing the severance of ties of family affection, the other the breaking of ties of civilian employment,woinen, too, answering the call to nurse the sick and wounded; In■,< each panel a procession of soldiers is seen leaving the things which men hold dear, to disappear from sight—into the tomb—which, in the Memorial, is the shrine or sarcophagus where all their sacrifice is sublimated in death.

So out of this tomb the efforts of those who "Went West" rise again etherealised—for they fought and died, not for glory, not for terri-; tory, not for revenge or any material thing, but for something finer out of the blue vault of Ijleaven. Thus, surmounting the pylon is seen "Victorious Youth," in all his beauty of physical strength, mounted on "Pegasus," the winged horse of inspiration. On his left arm he bears the victor's wreath of laurel, and, whilst his steed tramples underfoot the trophies of victory, he reaches up with his right arm towards the heavens supplicating a gift from on high, realising that there is still something needed, some added quality to make victory complete—"The Will to' Peace." /.-»'•

On the north-western elevation is sculptured a panel with the device of the pelican feeding her young from her own! blood. This is a symbol which throughout the ages has been used to denote sacrifice, and it is included to represent the sacrifices made by the women of the nation. The memorial cost £23,500. the area occupied by the, memorial and included in the new street, which was formerly occupied by buildings, was purchased for £70,733, of which the Government contributed £43,000 and the City Council the balance.

tried-to curb or control the growing power', of the Press. They tried prosecution and punishment, but though individuals suffered the Press as an institution gained in strength." Heavy taxation was more successful—4d on each copy, 3s 6d on each advertisement, and 3d a lb on paper. But even this could not check the growth which met the constantly expanding demand for news and views. How great was this growth is indicated by the prophetic judgment which, late in the Georgian era, Thomas Carlyle put into the mouth of his imaginary German philosopher, Teufelsdrockh. "The journalists are now the true Kings and Clergy: henceforth Historians, unless they are fools, must write not of Bourbon Dynasties, and Tudors and Hapsburgs; but of Stamped Broadsheet Dynasties, and quite new successive Names, according as this or the other" Able Editor, or Combination of Able Editors, gains the world's ear." The philosopher had his doubts as to how this new power would be exercised—a doubt expressed by Teufelsdrockh's reference to a "valuable descriptive history" of the British Newspaper Press "its secret constitution and procedure" published "under the title of 'Satan's Invisible World Displayed'" "perhaps the most egregious blunder in Modern Literature" Carlyle explains, due to the philo-

sopher's confounding the old authentic Presbyterian Witchfinder with an imaginary history of British journalism.

It is the modern recognition of this power that has led Governments even in later days to impose controls and checks and even supression. Britain, first to develop a politically-mind-ed free Press, has never easily accepted interference with Press freedom, whether attempted by a dictator or by mass action. Of that we have recent proof in the unfavourable reception of the "British Gazette," the official paper issued during the General Strike of 1926, and the warm gratitude which even political opponents expressed for the courage and fairness displayed by "The Times" in that crisis. What will the future hold? Some think that the form of the newspaper will change greatly to fit it more for the rush of modern life—that it will be a tabloid to be swallowed in a hurry. Others see the possibility of the printed page being supplanted by the broadcast word and television. But if we are guided in our vision by the experience of the past there is no warrant for these opinions. As life has become more, hurried the papers have become bigger, offering not less but more news, more views, and a

What is the News? ; greater variety of features. Neither the tele* c{ graph, nor the telephone killed the postal service ;\f v « rather they created a new demand for mails. So "" the broadcasting of news, the moving and talking pictures, and, ultimately maybe television, I supplement but do not supplant the printed^ news page.' So far as it is possible to discover j ■the Empire broadcast of Princess Marina's wed- s '» ding for. .example increased' rather than I diminished, interest; in the newspaper descrip-. ; tions of the.ceremony. . y ~^

This judgment.ls not wholly guesswork. Fo^~decades before wifeless-came into use, thereof were in London, New York, and other ■ great- . cities "ticker" machines supplying the news of" >" the day minute by minute. But in the clubs and , \ other places where these were installed they did'f<j not displace the newspaper. They just made the ~\' clubman anxious to get the next edition to rea4;<s the complete and latest account. of the events -' i briefly, recorded on the ticker tape. Broadcast- '^J ing appears to be having the same results. ~It?2f! whets the appetite for news. Why just whet tho'*^? | appetite and not give all the news? Because:^ | broadcasting is under time limitations. The^) listener who is interested in a paiticular type of V< news must wait until it is given—often listening \ f meanwhile to news in which he has no interest. """"? The reader on the other hand can turn to the i page he wants and give the rest of the paper to ' .his wife. Even an elaborate syslem of stations • allocated to broadcasts of • spqrts, political, { foreign, and general domestic news would not \ overcome this difficulty. Either the announcer i .would have to present a gummary or the listener • 'would require to sit for several hours for in- [ stance,to hear what Parliament was doing. If f he left he might miss something vital. He can- ' riot turn the page back. For this reason alone the newspaper will survive, for, though few; -; people keep the paper more than a day or so, * j they want to study it at their own convenience. [ Of course in ages to come the broadcast may ; leave a-visible record in the home; but that will ' '\ be a newspaper 'distributed by new methods.