COOK MEMORIAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1542, 25 August 1905, Page 3

COOK MEMORIAL.

XTo the Editor .Gisborne Timeii Sir, —The site being agreed on, one may look on the monolith as in position, whilst the ■ youth and the beauty of our town flock to the lovely surroundings, where despite the odours of “ Araby the Blest,” where on zephyr wings they regalo the olfactory nerves of all who may be in raptures of admiration while surveying the symmetric lines of the monument marking the locality of Cook’s landing place in New Zealand. The rioh and rare aroma of the freezing works when in full blast—manure-making—will add another charm, whioh lavish Nature assuredly overlooked when she made provision for Cook’s cenotaph ; for Nature by washing the faces of two hills, once likely a continuous range, has given as a result of her washing a talus, formed of loose elay and decaying vegetation —oh this the Cook memorial is to be placed. Evidently sound judgment on the part of the oommittee.

If a cirole or an oval were prepared on the Btone to ieobive, by and bye, a medallion in bronze of Captain Cook, bearing the inscription, “ lao Cook, Ooeani Investigator,^,v Aoerrimva, hdcclxix.” This would be quite sufficient, being authentic, classical, and severely appropriate. For pity's sake don’t sorawl any bombast on the thing. A small number of gold medals were strnck by order of George 111. in-, scribed as above; see also Cook’s epitaph in St. Paul’s.

May one suggest that another oirole or oval bo sunk on odb of the four facets of the stone pillar, to receive a bronze figure of the moa, to the memory of the Maori, Te Maru, who became the first victim or martyr for his native land, with an inscrip* tion in the Maori, “ Heremai te Pakeha.” Thus superbly majestic sings our poet, Domett in Kaaolf and Amohia, Canto, 1, 2 Stanza: —

A land, green waving, grand, Upon our seeming world-medallion’a rich reverse : The ruder Italy laid bare By that keen Searcher of the Seas Whose tempest-battling, never-baffled keel, Left half our planet little to reveal; But restless roaming everywhere Ziz-zagged the vast Pacifio as he prest With godlike patience his benignant quest; True hero-god, who realized the notion Its races feign of mythic Main still, And plucked up with a giant might of will A hundred Islands from Oblivion’s ocean i fcjea king and sage—staunch huntsman of pure Fame, Beating the waete of waters for his game, Untrodden shores or tribes without a , name; That nothing in an island’s shape, Mist-muffled peak or faint' oloud cape Might bis determined thoughtful glanco esoape : No virgin lands bo left unknown, Where future England? might be sown, I And nations noble as bis own.