BACK FROM THE DARDANELLES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2519, 14 July 1915, Page 6

BACK FROM THE DARDANELLES

The people of 'Wellington are naturally anxious to give a warmhearted reception to tho wounded soldiers who are duo to arrive by the Willochra to-morrow. The fact that tho men are sick and wounded has, of course, to be borne in mind, and the authorities have wisely decided that the function must not be a prolonged one; but Wellington's welcome to tho men from the Dardanelles will be none the less enthusiastic. The formal reception will probably take tho form of a few short speeches—the fewer and the shorter the better it _ will be—at the Town Hall, after which the men who aro able to be present will be entertained at luncheon. But it is not the formal welcome at the Town Hall that will-count most with the l'cturning soldiers. It will be the reception they receive from the people at the landing. This homecoming of the first lot of our wounded should bo made a memorable day, and it will depend on the citizcns generally to see that this is done. Our soldiers from the front should bo made to see that the community is not unmindful of its debt of gratitude to those who have made such sacrifices as these wounded men have done. The majority took part in tho landing at Gab'a Tepe, one of the most glorious incidents in the military annals of the''British Empire, and their return to New Zealand will bo a day to bo remembered. It is most desirable that the significance of the occasion should be impressed upon' tho minds of the young people 'of the community. They should have an opportunity- of honouring those who have brought honour to our country by their splendid courage and self-sacrifice. It would be an entirely fitting thing that to-morrow should be declared a school holiday, and before the school work is completed to-day the teachers might well tell the children something about the great campaign in which the men who are to land in Wellington to-morrow have played such a glorious part. The heroic deeds of bur soldiers at the front have a special lesson for the young, and they should be made to understand that history is still being made and that we in New Zealand are helping to mako it. They should be led to realise that it means something more to bo a New Zealander to-day than it did before the war began.