THROUGH THE AGES

Hokitika Guardian, 14 November 1931, Page 6

THROUGH THE AGES

NAMES OF NEW ZEALANDERS

MEMORIAL IN PALESTINE

WELLINGTON, Nov. 12

Advice of comp'etion of the memorial to the New Zealand Mounted Eegments in Palestine has been received by Defence authorities here. Names of New Zealanders who fought in conquest of the Holy Land now stand graven in solid rock beside the warriors of Alexander the Great, liameses 11., Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar. The newest Dominion of the British Empire in linked with ■:he great times of antiquity by the completion of the memorial in Palest-

ine. The ‘titles of the New Zealand corps which took part in General Allenby’s conquest of Canaan are now immortalised at a spot where the road to Damascus' branches from the coastal road, to Egypt and Palestine at a spot near the mouth of the Nahr-el-Ivell River, and a few miles from Beirut. Here for uncounted years there has been the great statue of a dog, guarding both roads. "Only the base of the statue now remains, and the rocks about it are covered with inscriptions by the troops of the other successful generals who have conquered the country. Thousands of year s have failed to obliterate these accounts of the deeds of the- British Army was After the Armistice with Turkey was signed, an inscription relating thedeeds of the British Army was engraven into the rock, immediately above the other inscriptions relating to Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar, but the tablet was found to be too small to include the names of all the troops which took part, notably the Australians, New Zealanders, Indians and French cavalry. Some years later, when Lieut-Colonel Hughes, the Australian representative on the Imerial War Graves Commission, had completed his work in Gallipoli, he was entrusted withCthe task of obtaining suitable engravings on the rocks relating to the performances of the Australian and New Zealand corps. This was undertaken with the consent, of the French Government, and the task has now been completed. |