MONUMENT TO DR CHALMERS.

Southland Times, Issue 1234, 8 April 1870, Page 3

MONUMENT TO DR CHALMERS.

It is proposed to erect a monument to Dr Chalmers in Edinburgh. No Scotsman ever deserved it better. We have received a communication from Dean Ramsay on ' the subject, who says — " The labours, and character of Chalmers endeared themselves to all ranks of society. I would be disposed to divide the community into a threefold class of contributors — marked by a threefold scale of pecuniary contributions. In this division one class will be the nobility, the landed proprietors, and the more wealthy members of society. Another class will include clergymen, tradesmen, clerks in offices. A third and valued class of contributors will consist of operatives and laborers. To facilitate this contribution of sums of all amount, the Scottish banks and banks everywhere have kindly agreed to receive any contributions however small or large. The monument must clearly be national, should be the people's testimony to the goodness and greatness of a good and great Scotsman. We would fondly anticipate in future days its being pointed out to a stranger as Scotland's monument to Chalmers— the monument of Scottish peers and peasants, the monument of Scotland's laity and clergy, the monument of Scotland's rich and poor." The Dean thinks that there must be many even in this far-off country who would like to show their admiration for one of the greatest Scotsmen of the nineteenth century, and suggests that we should take charge of subscriptions from them for the proposed monument. We have no doubt there are many warm admirers of Dr Chalmers in New Zealand, and we have no objection to receive and remit any moneys that may be given to us for the object he has indicated, but we should say that much must depend upon what the monument is to be. We agree largely with a correspondent of the Scotstnan, who makes the following suggestion: — "If appropriateness constitutes the chief worth of such memorials, would not an effort to carry into effectsome of his own noble plans for the deliverance of Scotland from the moral and physical evils of pauperism be a more worthy memorial of Dr Chalmers than the finest statue that was evpr made ? Would not, for instance, the provision of suitable house accommodation for the poorest families in our city be such a memorial ? — -Wanganui Chronicle.