WAR MEMORIAL SITE.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 November 1921, Page 4

WAR MEMORIAL SITE.

The compromise on which the New Plymouth Borough Council decided on Monday in connection with the sites for the proposed war memorial, is, like most of its kind, worthless. There is no more ideal site for the purpose than the block of vacant land opposite the railway station and facing the ocean over which the manhood of the country was transported on the most vital mission of all time—a mission that is worthy of being commemorated in a way that exhibits the full sense of the sacrifices made and the gratitude of the community to those who fought for home and country; for the maintenance of right, justice and liberty, as well as for the peace of the world and the freedom of the nations. No memorial would be fitting that did not involve sacrifice, the giving up of which of itself is valuable. It was in that spirit in which the organisers of the movement for a memorial on the most suitable spot in the town approached both the Harbor Board and the Borough Council to join in the sacrifice, without which the memorial would lack its chief value. The Harbor Board cannot, and the council will not grant the site, though the former is willing to do the most in its power by way of exchange, and the latter is, with evident reluctance, only willing to part with the frontage facing Egmont Street. Bettec no memorial at all than one which will for all time stand as evidence of the low estimate that New Plymouth places on the services of the heroic men who gave freely and willingly their all—even life itself —in defence of the Empire. Had there been any legal obstacle preventing the borough from dedicating the site to honor’s cause, or even if it had been ear marked for a special purpose, the council would have a valid excuse for its action. As matters stand the land could and should be utilised for a fitting war memorial; yet the majority of the councillors think otherwise, just as they did on the subject of the hydroelectric tunnel. Does this memorial question need to be referred to the vote of the people in order to take the responsibility off the tender shoulders of their representatives? Apparently so. Then it would be well to take that course, though it is humiliating that the voters should have to decide as to the performance of such a manifest duty.