NATIONAL WAR MEMORIALS

Hokitika Guardian, 29 April 1920, Page 3

NATIONAL WAR MEMORIALS

, NEW ZEALAND ACTION. Mr T. E. Y. Seddon M.P., was written to recently in connection with de- " signs for the Westland War Memorial, - | and in the course of his reply lie gave t some interesting particulars ol the 1 steps being taken with regard to the National War -Memorials. Mr Seddon ! is a member of the Dominion and Battlefields Memorial Committee, and his. remarks regarding the battlefields me--1 inorial will be particularly interesting 1 to tlie men who served in France and elsewhere. Mr Seddon who write.' interestingly always, goes oil to say : Tlie Dominion Memorial to be erected in Wellington will need a lot of considering both as to site and to design. For the question of site we have lmd added to the Committee some members of the City Council of Wellington. What is wanted is a position where everyone in the city and visiting the city will see the monument which will be at once an inspiration and a work of art. It is not decided whether it will be a cenotaph, a column, a pillar, a figure or an arch. Some striking figure like the statue of Liberty at New York harboui would be ideal. To place a figure or a pillar on a promontory like tlie point at Oriental Bay is mooted. This would be passed by every ship coming into tlie harbour and would be seen from almost every part of the city. Lit up at night it would be a beacon guiding ships int;Wellington and a remembrance night and day of those who fell. The battlefield monument shall bo oi uniform design. 1 have been placed on a sub-committee with Mr Coates and Generals Chaytor and Richardson to go into the question of procuring designs. This of course, will he dene by competition. The site of the memorial for the First Somme was on the suggestion of General Russell and myself changed from Factory Corner near Flois to a higher elevation overlooking Flers—be tween High Wood and Delville Wood I Tins will lie near, or possibly right on the New Switch Trench. Sir James Allen will in England, effect this alteration. The other three- —French and Belgian sites— will be well known to West Cod men for at each place the Canterbury Battalions were prominent, Flers and | | the New Switch bpfh battalions will re ' member well. '-Another site, at Gravel- ( stapei the 13th Company, 3rd Battalion. ’ under Captain Foorcl (Gveymouth), oc- ' eupied on the 4th October, 1917 at the Passcliendaele Fight. It is at the crossroads just to the left of (he Heights of - Abraham and to the right of Korok Pill ILx, The Messines memorial will be in the Square at Messines which the 2nd Canterbury Battalion took-. Tlie fourth h at 1,0 Quesnoy which is well known to the Canterbury Regiment. Then there will be one memorial on Gallipoli and one m Palestine. In addition there is the Anzac Memorial sub scribed to voluntarily. It wilt be erect, ed at Port Said. This, I believe, is te lie very inspiring. It will lie composed of four equestrian figures and be very impressive. ; - It was suggested that owing to the 1 long occupancy of the Ypros salient- by 1 the Now Zealanders that a memorial c should ho erected there, hut the A us- r tralians who really had a prior claim - have decided to erect a monument- close , to or on “Tho finite,” a spot, famous to ij the whole division and to every one who ! ever visited the Ypros salient. I have suggested that whatever iorm the ; Battlefield Memorial takes it should hr > ! constructed of New Zealand stone, pro-' - ferably granite. This most likely will ( he given effect tq, : i The War Graves Commission soon will Valve some announcement to make about the military cemeteries. The i work is going oil apace and soqii in small cemeteries the fallen will he laid to rest, a uniform lipad stone erected and I l '- 1 names duly inscribed. The plans we saw of the cemeteries wore very impressive, and the designs of the crosses most fitting. One large cross overlooks the burial ground and at the entrance there, is a stone building , wherein are kept the names and record' [ of those who lie i'll that Unbowed ground This work was proceeding round ITobul term* when my mother visited it* last year,