MEMORIAL SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2490, 17 June 1915, Page 5

MEMORIAL SERVICE

FOR NEW ZEALANDERS AND AUSTRALIANS IMPRESSIVE CEREMONIALS AT ST. PAUL'S THE ARCHBISHOP'S TRIBUTE (Rec. Juno 16, 8.15 p.m.) London, Juno IG. The memorial service hold in St. Paul's Cathedral for the Australian and Now Zealand soldiers killed at the Dardanelles was deeply impressive. The crowded congregation included relatives of the dead and four hundred Australian and New Zealand wounded soldiers from Weymouth and Harelield Park. Some were on crutches with their limbs bandaged, and many wore hospital garments. Rows of khaki-clad soldiers filled the space under the dome. Tho Australian and- New Zealand lags hung above the choir. The Earl of Kintore represented tho King, Colonel Steeathfield represented Q.ueen Alexandra, Mr. Bonar Law and Sir Hartmann Just the Colonial Office, and there were also present: Sir Georgo lieid. tho Hon. T. Mackenzie, tho Agents-General of the Australian States, the Marquis of Lincolnshire, Sir Edmund Barton, Bear-Admiral Gaunt, Lord Deiiuiau, Lady Patey, Lady,Birdwood, Captain Haworth Booth, Lord Islington, Lord Plunket, Sir James Mills, Sir Robert Nivison, Lord and Lady Brassey, Lord Tennyson, Lady Darnley, Admiral Sir George King-Hall, General Hutton, Marchioness of Linlithpw, Captain Muirhead Collins, Mr: Array Palliser, Civil Servants, Imperial Administrators, Army ana Naval officers,, and business representatives. The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs attended in state. The Dean of St. Paul's and the Bishop of London assisted at the service, which began with tho hymn "Brief Life Is Hero Our Portion." Aiter the Psalms xxiii ("Tho Lord Is My Shepherd") and exxx ("Out of the Deep Have I Called Unto Thee, 0 Lord"), Sjwhr's anthem," "Blest Are the Departed," was sung. Tbe lesson was read by the Rev. W. Besley (Sub-Dean of St. Paul's), formerly assistant-master of Wanjjanui College. It was tho story of the raising' of Lazarus, taken from the eleventh chapter of the Gospol of St.. John. The hymn. "Rock of then SUlig, and a special Litany was said. "Creater Love Hath No Man." The Archbishop of Canterbury was the preacher. His text was : "Greater lovo'hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (St. John xv, .13). The 'Archbishop said they had met.for .the' yery sacred purpose of'thanking- God for the splendid devotion of tlieir brethren from Australia and New Zealand, who, in the'eause whereto tho Empire' had set •its hands- "loved not their lives unto, the death". (Rev. xii, 11). Tho feat of April 25 had never been outshone, and seldom equalled. The Archbishop pic-' tured the perils of tho landing, and spoke of' the dauntless gallantry these brave men showed iu storming th< heights and holding on afterwards Their deeds had become part of the Empire's 1 heritage for even Thcst deeds were the more splendid and inspiring when it was remembered that thev were not the achievements of somo veteran, corps, but of men who a. few months before wero civilians in tho busli, the sheep-runs, and the • townships of Australia and New Zealand. Who would have thought when tlieso young nations were implanted in the Southern Seas that ft hundred years later they would cross tho seas and share the Empire burden in a worldwide war;-or that, m tho shadow of the Pyramids, they 1 would makb their first onset on the Plains of Troy. These things had been done. 1< earful' would be the fcbst, but the great roll of drums in the Dead Marco that ni <r ht would reverberate the thanks of the Motherland to the farthest limits of the Empire. "God give us grace, said the Archbishop, "to bear ourselves as a united people, that we may build out of this welter of pain and strife a nobler habitation to which the honour and 'glory of every nation would add something distinctive." . ' _ The hymn "Now the Labourer's Task Is-O'er" was then sung, the congregation kneeling, After wlnoh the Military Band played the Dead March from "Saul." which wits answered from the end of the nave by the bugler's "Last Post." . Tho service was closed by the singing of tho National Anthem. "SPIRIT OF GREATER BRITAIN." (Rec. June 36, 11.30 p.m.) London, Juno 16. The "Times," referring to tha Memorial Service, savs: "We hold tho Australians' and New 1 Zealanders m special pride for the-proof they have given that the spirit of Greater Britain is undiminished. Every advice from tho Dardanelles only adds to our admiration for their audacious, constaut, and steady valour under conditions in which tho danger and difficulties are only boginning to be realised."