A MAYOR AMOK.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4360, 30 December 1921, Page 1

A MAYOR AMOK.

“WHEN THE WAB IS O’EB!” KENNY BAYNE MEMORIAL. The Mayor of Pahiatua has taken up an amazing attitude in regard to the Kenny Bayne Memorial (states the. soldiers’ journal, “Quick March). In December, 1919, the Borough Council decided to give a site in one of the garden squares for a memorial in honour of a very brave, soldier, Kenny Bayne, whose last act of! heroism was the giving of his life in the effort to save a baby 'that fell into the sea from a steamer’s deck. The circumstances of Mr Bayne’s death are recorded in the following extract from the Pahiatua “Herald's” report pf the recent meeting at which the Mayor moved for a recision of the resolution of December, 1919 :— “The Mayor explained that the attitude he took up was that as far as "the actual action was concerned he never regarded it as an act of bravery. Here was a returned soldier, maimed, and probably suffering from great nervous strain. He was on board an ocean liner going at full sjjped, through the tropics, the locality said to be full of sharks. He saw a child fall overboard and immediately jumped over to save it. His Worship said he did not know Kenny Bayne, and did not attempt for one moment to detract from the good intentions of anyone performing such an action. But in his (the speakers’) opinion Bayne was mentally unbalanced, as the result of his war service, and in that light he did not regard it as ar act of bravery. His Worship added that he considered the previous Council should not have given permissoin. It was a pity it did so/’

Happily for the reputation of Pahiai tua the Mayor’s motion did not find a seconder,. The Mayor’s peculiar view of the respect due to heroism was not shared by any member of the Council. The “Chief Magistrate” had to be content with a cold loneliness in his ignoble attitude. • ANOTHER REBUFF. Mr R. J. F. Aldrich, secretary of the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ Association, sent the following letter to Pahiatua’s Mayor—“l have before me a cutting from the Pahiatua “Herald” having reference to your notice of motion re the 'Kenny Bayne Memorial.’ I am not vitally concerned as to the site of the memorial, but it is obvious that so far as you are concerned the w is getting a long way behind. Without doubt two years ago, when the deputation waited upon the Council, you would have consented to the ereptioa of the memorial anywhere in the heart of your town, but as the years roll on the danger is over and the war and deeds of the soldiers have sunk into oblivion. Sb much for the motion. Now to deal with the motive that prompted it. During the whole pf my fortyt-.odd years I have never heard a more gratuitous insult flung at a dead man. Listen to me, sir! Kenny Bayne was one of God’s heroes. As a soldier it would be hard to And his equal. As a gentleman he was mad* hy Naf

As a suffering patient his endurance was wonderful. I fought by his side at Gaillipoili, I worked beside him in England when we w,ere convalescing, and when the news of his death and the manner in which he met it got tc England, everybody who knew him said: 'And that is how he lived..’ I wonder the citizens of your district have not risen in their wrath at your attempt to belittle one 0f the most noble actions ever attempted by anyone. For nearly twelve months Kenny and I worked together as orderlyroom clerks, after we had been disabled, and I want to assure you and all the people who have read what I consider your insult that he was certainly not mentally unbalanced at any time ; he did not even suffer from any form of nervousness. He endur-i ed great pain for a long time after his wound, but when he left England the wound had healed, and although the arm was practically useless, he did not suffer with it. There are two people who do not regard Kenny’s action as an act of bravery; one is yourself and the other my pal, Kenny Bayne. I could eulogise him for hours, but it would not assist in- my protest at the remarks made by you, nor will it affect the minds of those people wherein everyone but yourself recognises that not only did Kenny die a hero’s death, but lived the same.”