WAR MEMORIALS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 April 1921, Page 5

WAR MEMORIALS.

THE LATE COLONEL MALONE.

R.S.A. TO MOVE.

A speaker at last night’s annual meeting of the New Plymouth Returned Soldiers’ Association, Mr. R. Baird, brought up tire question of instituting a memorial to the late Colonel W. G. Malone, com--mander of the Wellington Infantry Regiment. who was killed at Chanak Bair,' in the Gallipoli campaign. Mr. Baird said that the matter was really not his own idea, hut the absence of a memorial jn the district—which, he remarked, was • rather lacking’generally in commemorating the deeds of its public men and pioneers—had been brought under his notice by ex-membere of Colonel Malone’s regiment on several occasions in various parts of New Zealand. He thought the name should be perpetuated in some way. Mr. C. H. Weston said that the Web lington Regiment had put up a tablet at Palmerston North to the memory of Colonel Malone, and also of Colonel Cook, , and had also been moving in the direction of erecting a bronze statue*of Col. Malone, or stone obelisk. Representations made to the president of the Royal Academy in London elicited the reply that a statue would cost £1750, so the alternative proposal would have to be adopted. The Wellington Regiment had donated £IOQ for the purpose of putting up a memorial at Stratford, but this would probably not cover the cost, and it was proposed to approach the townspeople of Stratford.for the purpose of securing further funds. Colonel Malone had played a part in ** the war which was not fully appreciated, and his strong character and ideals had left a mark on the Expeditionary Force. Not only as a province, but as a nation they were very much in debt to the late colonel.

The president (Mr. A. M. McDiarmid) said the association should do something to help the regiment of which Colonel Malone was the honored head, to commemorate his memory. As Mr. Baird had said, the town was lacking in commemorating the deeds of the men who fell, and the time was. past when some permanent memorial should be in evidence. Three years had gone since the war finished, and there was nothing to show posterity that men had ever died for the Empire. The town might ba I hard up” for funds, but the time had come when a move should be made, if not by the town, then by the association, for the sake of their mates who fell. The matter of the memorial was left to the incoming executive, the president assuring the meeting that something would be done before long. A member pointed out that in New Plymouth die town manager. (Mr. F. T. Bellringer), in bis annual report, had stated that the question of a memorial had not been forgotten