THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14. 1921. A WAR MEMORIAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4330, 14 October 1921, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14. 1921. A WAR MEMORIAL.

Memoria in aeterna — In eternal remembrance. .

From one cause and another, the matter of the erection of a war memorial to soldiers of Paeroa and district has bden held in abeyance, but by no means forgotten. Definite proposals, will be submitted to the public ol Paeroa and district next Tuesday evening, at a public meeting called for the purpose. That the step is late need not necessarily be taken as wholly a misfortune ; in fact, in some respects, it is. perhaps, for the better: in the glow of victory succeeding the termination of the wars there would doubtless/have been more enthusiasm,, but much of this feeling was transitory, and money given at that time would not really have been an altogether true index of the people’s abiding gratitude for valorous and self-sacrificing services rendered, nor a just appreciation of the value of a memorial as a means of inspiring future generations to noble endeavour for King and County, and the eternal rights of humanity in the great testing-times of the future. Bui now that the tumult of war. has faded away into a very minor key, and the flag-waving and the shouting have ceased, the clear, strong, and abiding sense of loyalty and gratitude of the people may find serene and deep expression far removed from anything savouring of jingoism or vainglory. At the present moment the people of many other towns and districts are engaged in a precisely similar movement; Paeroa is not the last to act in this regard, and, provided that a fitting memorial be erected —■ which will depend on the funds forthcoming—the lapse of a few years in such a matter as a war memorial will not amount to anything of importance. As to the need of a memorial, so much has been written and spoken on this subject, and so finely expressed at times, that it might appear to be superfluous to dwell at length on this aspect. The man or woman who really needs convincing that memorials are desirable things, nay, necessities, if the glory of our race is not to perish from the earth forever, is hopeless beyond redemption.

Briefly, the history of the British race in the Great War is

this : A great.power, steeped and soaked in military arrogance, thirsting for world-dominion, utterly ruthless and implacable in the pursuit of its ghoulish desires, assailed in its stride a weak ally of Great Britain; namely, the small nation of the Belgians, a brave, industrious, and peaceloving people who had been and still are the oldest allies of Great Britain, having been attached to us in a diplomatic alliance f*r some eight hundred years. In those early days of the war, whatever our statesmen knew, the great mass of the people did not fully realise the fact that the German onslaught threatened the very existence of the British Empire. But they did know that our small ally cried aloud to us in the dreadful crisis to make good our compact with it. It can be truly said that “the cry of the women and children of Belgium when the Germans were battering at the forts of Liege stirred British hearts as nothing else had done before or has done since. The mighty arm of England was stretched forth to save, but such was our state of unpreparedness in martial strength on land that it took over four long years, with our Allies, to conquer and humble to the dust the “road hog of Europe.” On Gallipoli, in Palestine, in Flanders, Mesopotamia, and on the seven seas our nation spilled blood like water, and counted not the monetary cost in order that the precious heritage of freedom handed down to us by our great forbears might be preserved to us and our children, and our children s children forever. The words “our nation,” mean all that the words imply :—The women, the aged, the minors, and all those who were unfit for stress- of campaigning, but who in countless instances toiled and suffered in silence that the soldiers and sailors in the theatres of war might not lack the. means of carrying on the fight; the transport, medical and nursing services (including thousands of brave women) on the field and off, as well as those who were privileged to carry arms and take a direct part in the greatest war of all the ages. The physical suffering and the mental anguish were greater than tongue or pen can tell, but there was disclosed a great and glorious quality which can perhaps be best described in the phrase, “the spirit of the British race.” Never before had the nation risen to such a splendour of self-sacrifice, such martial gallantry, sustained tenacity of 'purpose, and spiritual exhaltation. The people rose to superb heights of nationhood, broadbased on inalienable rights, human and Divine, disclosing in a grand crescendo of magnificence the power of “man’s unconquerable mind.” If these great achievements, or rather the Di-vinely-guided dauntless spirit of those engaged in so great and grave an enterprise were not symbolised in every centre of population right to the furthermost bounds of our far-flung Empire, then the unthinkable omission would redound to our deathless shame.

All that our poor hands can do will make no sort of difference to those who have paid the Great Price ; they really heed no memorials, for they have built unto themselves “memorials more enduring that brass.” The soul of the soldier who gave his life for a friend has gone : To. the island-valley of Avilioh ; Where falls not hail,, or rain, or any snow,

Nor ever wind blows loudly ; but it lies Deep-meadow’d, happy, fair, with

orchard lawns And bowery hollows crown’d with

summer sea, Where I will heal me of my grievous wound. _ —Tennyson’s “Mort D’Arthur.” - It is for our own sakes, for the ( sake of shewing that we are not' ingrates, and for the inspiration of posterity that we must erect a noble and fitting memorial. Maybe, and maybe not, in our time, the Southern Pacific will become the storm centre of a world-war even more great and ghastly than that which is past. How, if we do not cherish the great traditions of our race, if we do not hand down to our chil - dren lasting symbols of the courage to do and dare and the will to rise nobly to awesome occa-. sions ; to brave fire and sword, famine and pestilence, and all the man-made devilry that vile foes invent, can we expect those who come after us to maintain the honour and security of cur race ? Paeroa and district people rose to the occasion many and many a time with almost unequalled generosity during the more than four years of stupendous conflict,: of a surety they will make this one last great effort

IN REMEMBRANCE.