TRIBUTES TO EARL HAIG

Evening Star, Issue 19787, 10 February 1928, Page 8

TRIBUTES TO EARL HAIG

RESOLUTION IH PARLIAMENT ERECTION OF MONUMENT Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, February 8. In the House of Commons Mr Baldwin, proposing a resolution that the King be asked to direct that a monument be erected to Earl Haig’s memory at the public charge, with an inscription expressing the admiration of the House for his illustrious career and gratitude for his illustrious services to the State, said that the amount for such a monument varied from £5,000 to £7.000. It was too early yet to deride the ultimate place of any statesman or soldier in the "World Mar, but Earl Haig, by common consent, was oue of the great iigures. His country recognised in him what they value most in a man—steadfastness and absolute and complete integrity; a man to whom a. mean thought or a mean act was impossible, loyal to everybody in the Array, and, what was even more difficult, loyal to the civil governing power. His humble spirit made itself felt throughout the British Army, and was no small factor in the morale of these great forces. “He was one of the few men 1 would choose as worthy to be laid by Sir Walter Scott. He was, indeed, a perfect gentleman and knight. We now want a simple monument at which men of tho British Legion can lay their poppies, and, showing it to their children, say: ‘There he is.’” Mr Ramsay MacDonald said that, to some, war was such a. terrible calamity that a man associated with it fended to become a symbol of battle and bloodshed. “As a consequence, we have viewed the names of great, soldeirs in a false perspective. In the latter part of his life Earl Haig revealed the whole man to ns. No ex-soldier, or widow, or orphan of a dead soldier failed to find the way to Earl Haig’s hear!. He fought many baffles, hut none more nobly than his last in behalf of suffering humanity.” Mr MacDonald expressed regret at the Government’s proposal taking the form of a marble memorial instead of honoring Earl Haig by caring for the ex-servicemen whom Earl Haig cared for. Tie moved an amendment. —“That a select committee inquire into the best method of honoring Earl Haig’s memory.” After Sir R. Hutchison, on behalf of the Liberals, and Major J. B. Cohen, the legless member for Fairfield Division of Liverpool, had spoken, Mr J. H. Thomas urged that there should he no division on the amendment, as it would be misunderstood in the country. Mr MacDonald’s amendment, however. was rejected by 220 votes to 100. and Mr Baldwin’s resolution was agreed to.