UNIQUE WAR MEMORIAL.

Shannon News, 16 September 1921, Page 4

UNIQUE WAR MEMORIAL.

Among the legion of war memorials, one of the most unique and peculiarly appropriate is that which is being erected by the people of Mercer and surrounding districts. c The body of the memorial, is the actual gun turret from the old river gunboat Ifangiriri, which saw service in the Maori War, especially near Rangiriri. The turret, which is loop-holed lor guns and rifles, has been placed' on a substantial concrete base, and will be surmounted with a full-size bronze figure of a soldier in lull fighting kit. Upon the sides will be affixed two tablets, one giving the names of those who from the Mercer district' fell in the Great War, and the other as far as possible recording the names of those who fell in the Maori War..

The monument is being erected upon the old “Mercer Cab Sjand,” known as such to the pioneers when the railway only ran to Mercer, and it will look out upon a river and district rich in historical associations. The history of the turret is very .interesting. It weighs three and a-half tons, and is made of iron, flush jointed so that the bullets would slide/ off easily. The gunboat Rangiriri was built by. the Imperial Government, brpught out in sections, and put together at Onehunga; the engines and winch are now in constant use fh the Freetrader on the Waikato. The gun turret has had many uses during the long years, and was once used as a lock-up for drunks on the very spot it has now been placed as a war memorial. The turret of the Pioneer, the Rangiriri’s sister boat, now lies in a swamp some two miles below Mercer.