WAR MEMORIALS

Hokitika Guardian, 4 March 1920, Page 4

WAR MEMORIALS

(Wellington Dominion). Throughout New Zealand there is a desire in almost every community to perpetuate in some enduring form the memory of those of its sons who fell in the war. This instinct is deeply planted in human nature and among the greatest monuments of all time are memorials to war. Already some memorials have been erected, and there is discussion of the form that others may be most fittingly given. By the memorials we erect to-day future generations will not only be told what we did in the war, out what the war did to the minds and souls of the people who survived it. There is much difference of opinion whether these monuments should be useful as well as beautiful. Some argue that there is no better way to commemorate our dead than by the erection of buildings that will serve the needs of living men. Others argue that a memorial embodying an ideal should have no otner function than to speak to the people who look upon it. Until these differences are reconciled or some sense of the general drift of opinion throughout the country gathered it is wise to hasten slowly in deciding on the form of bur great national memorial. In the meantime each community desires without unnecessary delay to commemorate the sacrifice of its men who will never return. A * correspondent has written to us asking for some guidance ns to the form these local memorials should take. This is a decision that' must he left largely to the collective feeling of the communities. No artificial uniformity can be enforced, and to attempt to do so would be disastrous. The most that can be done is to direct attention to some of those general considerations which should underlie a sound decision. The first thing we all desire is that the war memorials shall be of a nature to endure, and have as much of permanency as the resources we possess can give them. The second is that they shall beautifully and fittingly commemorate the sacrifice of those in whose honour we erect them, and by those attributes of beauty and fitness be an inspiration to all who behold them. Whether these ends are best to be attained by the erection of a building serving also an utilitarian purpose or by a monument standing for remem-. brance sake alone is a point on which much can be said on either side. But if. we erect a building we must remember that in the course of years the need it was designed to fill may no longer exist or the building may Lave become unsuitable for meeting it, and sink to desuetude and obscurity. That is a risk which the advocates of a building or other utilitarian scheme must bear in mind. In the United States a number of towns are building “community houses” as memorials ’of the ' war. These are peoples’ clubs so to speak, which combine halls and rooms where people can come together for all sorts of public purposes—singing, dances, concerts, lectures, and public service by groups of citizens organised for such purposes as Bed Cross volunteer work. In the design of these is usually included a handsome entrance hall or vestibule, in which commemorative tablets, and possibly also statuary, may be placed. _lf a utilitarian memorial be decided upon it is the need of the locality in which it is erected that will determine its character. On the other hand if the memorial is to be a pure monument its essential qualification is that it shall he worthy. This does not necessarily mean that it must he expensive. Whatever form we give it, it must be of the best. An eruption through the country of slovenly statues of unsoldierlike soldiers will not embody the veneration for our dead that inspired their . builders. If statuary is desired by smaller communities it might be a sensible proceeding for two or three to club together and between them commission a sculptor of eminence to design a statue of which replicas could be cast in bronze.

For a plain stone monument the cenotaph designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and erected in London for the peace celebrations has proportions which give it beauty and dignity. It has already been reproduced on a smaller scale in some towns in England. Simplicity is the keynote of this memorial to the dead, which so poignantly arrested the attention of tlfe millions who beheld it in ~ peace week in London. It is a rectangular piece of masonry whose construction presents no difficulties, and on tho base of it the names of the fallen soldiers could be inscribed. The appeal of such a monument depends greatly on the surroundings in which it is placed. It could be made the feature of a scheme of street improvement. A square lnight be created in the ..centre of which it would stand. At the intersection of two avenues of trees, again, the nobility of outline of a monument would be greatly enhanced by the contrasting vistas of green. Yet again it could be made the dominating feature of some eminence. A favourite form of commemoration in smaller American towns has been the planting of a tree with a simple tablet in memory of each local soldier who fell. An avenue of trees leading to a monument, one tree tor each dead soldier, would not only be a beautiful thing in itself, but would have a beautiful symbolism. What could be finer and more appealing to the imagination than an avenue of hoary oaks keeping green through tho years the memory of those whom we had sought to honour? Those tentative suggestions we make in the hope that public-spirited citizens who are considering alternative schemes may perchance find in them something that is helpful. In even the smallest township a memorial will not fall far short of its purposo if it combines tho elements of simplicity and permanency. The most dangerous pitfall is to adopt an idea elaborate and ambitious, boyond the means and craftsmanship available to embody it. And in nothing is simplicity and restraint more to bo sought than in tho inscription placed upon whatever memorial may bo erected.