AUSTRIAN COLLAPSE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 35, 5 November 1918, Page 6

AUSTRIAN COLLAPSE

i CITY'S CELEBRATION i : - - : - ~; rj JUBILANT CROWDS IN I THE STREETS I • GATHERING AT THE TOWN ! HALL ir,;;. . i The news that an armistice had been j arranged between the Allied Powers and i Austria, readied Wellington yesterday • morning,, and as it spread through the |" city it produced a degree of elation not j aroused by: any other-event of the war. Flags began to fly all ovor Wellington, land in some establishments preparations i were made at. once for the inevitablo ; half-holiday. Tie Prime Minister, who | had telegraphed the good news to Mayors i of boroughs and centres throughout New ! Zealand, communicated with tho Mayor ■ of Wellington (Mr. J. P. Luke, M.P.), j: and suggested that fitting celebrations ; should be arranged. Soon notices wero ; displayed throughout the city inviting ; the citizens to observe'a half-holiday j and to meet the Mayor and members of ; the Government at midday. ; , At "the stroke of noon any_ Wellington ;.'citizens who had not' previously heard l, the good news were made aware of it by i. a great din of whistles and horns . throughout the city and suburbs. Tho !■ steamers in port added their whistles j and syrens to the efforts of tho factories j and workshops, and the result was a very : great noise, whch had an inspiriting : sound in the ears of jubilant citizens.

[CIVIC CELEBRATION AT TOWN HALL | SPEECHES BY'MINISTERS.. ; The civic celebration of the news of j victory took place at the Town Hall at . noon yesterday. A large crowd collected ! in front of the building, in response to | a general invitation that had been cir- : culated by. the v Mayor, and there was loud cheering when the Prime. Minister (the Eight Hon. W. F. Massey), the Mini/ister of Finance (Sir Josoph Ward),.the ~ Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen), j and the Mayor appeared on a balcony. , The Hon. D. H. Guthriß (Minister of i,, Lands) and the Hon. J. A. Hanan (Miu- ;„ Jstei 1 of Education) were also present. ; "We have, this morning an official intimation that an nrmistice i would be signed at 3 o'clock to-day (Lon- ; don > time) between Austria.and the Al- ! S sai(l Mr - 3jllke ' »n>idst cheers. .That represents a tremendous amount i to us, because our British boys are fightiing.along with the. soldiers of. our Allies ! in Italy. They havo been fighting in .Italy against the Austrians for quito a ( long time, and I am sure you will ac- , cord them the highest appreciation be- ;• oause of the sacrifices they have made." At this stage, on the call of someone ~in the' crowd,..three cheers wore given .'for the "boys at the front." ' . ; Luke added that the. nation was i determined to go.on with the war until : Germany had been defeated. No com- ■ promise would .be mado which ivould endanger the future peace of tho world. (Cheers.).

;* Mr..Luke concluded by reading the '.following telegram which had been received from the Prime Minister earlier in the morning:— , I have the greatest pleasure in informing you that His Excellency the ~ Governor-General has'just been officially advised that an armistice has : been signed between Austria and the' Allied Powers, to come into force at 8 p.m. to-day (London time). May I ■ request that a public holiday be gen- . erally observed for the remainder of" the day by citizens, by employers, ; and in all public schools throughout the Dominion, flags to be flown ; wherever possible. ~-'The.man who won't give a half-holi-j:,day.to-day is not playing tho game, in ;. my opinion," added the Mayor. "Wo : all , want to,make, joy to-day. Somo people ,-, came-to me and suggested that we should , make joy to-morrow, but I would not i agree to it." (Loud cheers.)

The Prime Minister. The PriniG Minister said that when ho spoke from the same balcony four . days previously he had not had any idea that ho would be addressing Wellington citizens from the samo place so soon again.. Events were following one an- : ™5i very £!t ' Hlst ? r y was bein S made ; rapidly, and the event reported that day, Hie acceptance of the Allies' terms by ..Austria, would occupy a great place in history. Wo can congratulate ourselves," said :Mr. Massey. "that New Zealand ■ troopsi.and New Zealand citizens have •played no. unimportant part in the -very : great-evens that are now proceeding 7 [the. war,- Then' came Turkey's turn to '■ 60 -??t;-then -the- turn of Austria, and !Si ,lllh «>' of Germany. ffi Tlle lm i> OT ta««e- of what has ; Si P v n ca , nnot -P°fibly be overesti.'?S. o y °^ llavo t ) o , nn y to thin k what i„5? ? l ? h J"£ Bnl Bi«a. Turkey; and i. Austria out of the war. It means that I th f "W <»■ £» Italian fmtTb bg t . re eased, that the Palestine army is beine Released, and,that the army^based^"n ■ Salonika is being released. It has beefi moved during tfi. last few months that , the. Germans cannot possibly stand up ; against the forces of the Affiles on the 'Western front. What wilt happen if ;Uie-..three -released-armies como along? •VSLT but faster f« ! SSJf. rv 1 ?™. Practically unoondiLnal term ß ,-.hke her allies,. Hie better it will i be for the eneniv. Germany is not going !. to escape punishment for fior crimes bv i V J 56 th ? "f Britain and the i'fu 111, T nh ? C ? that evenhanded | justice is meted out to Germany when ► the settlement takes place.

;..;..'.,' ; . ' A; Proud Record. ! .$" m $ to be „l> roud > as British citi- ' ISV C - ltlzen f of , Nfew Zeala nd and of ; the. Empire, of what has taken place • i wn % thf war. We can look back o . August, 1914, when a great British states- ' ™^' ln nf D ( S T er !? " su Egestion from tho enemy that treaties were mere scraps of • paper replied that whatever happened (Cheers.) The honour of Britain has i.oeen upheld through all these long years j years when the courage and endurance t of the people of the British race were ; .tested as they had never been i tested before. We- have beon i Km <1S , t ll n!lHon ' h ' ied as '■SLf!* 6 haV is eome thl'o«Kh-trium- : phant, because there is no doubt that I victory, final victory, will follow within i-a very short period. (Cheers.) Wo can •look back now to the time, more than f four years ago when tho authorities ■sent across the Channel the sinallarmy ... that, was available, 150.000 men, to as- ; sist. in stemming 1 ho tide of German in- . vasion. . We can remember how those , men assisted to roll back tho tide, from' -..the .very gates of Paris; how Kitchener's ■■SnfifnriT* and 'S rc V ,ntil th «e wero : .5,000.000 men ready to fight; how the ; .armed forces of the Empire came to , number 7,500 000 men. Tho Dominions!' i which were hardly thought of when Ger,l,oooooo, including our 100,000 New Zeai.landers.. (Applause.). The great em--piro.of India, an Empire within an Em- ■ ft' 6 ' n, 1 ' W?. men - The Ge ™ans , thought that India was seething with .sedition, and would go to pieces at the I first shock of war. All tho Dominions ;.and dependencies have done well, and ;-wo are proud of the fact to-day. We are . proud ot the splendid work the women : throughout the Empire have done. (An.plause) Here in New Zealand the wo- : men havo encouraged our boys, they ..have.sent their sons and their'husbands r to do their duty ot the front; while in r the Old Country I do not think it would (.be any exaggeration to say that a million I women have come forward to do tho j-.york of men and allow the men "to go j.to 'the front. Wo cannot possibly for,,get these things. The people of New ;.Zealand have made their financial effort' ;.3n.-a small way, but it is nothing to (he i inancial effort made at the heart of t; e '..gmpjre, where a sum of i8,000.li00,0!i0 j nas been raised for tho purpose of ntirry-.-ing on this war. Wo con look' back on f these things with pride; War is nno of, I the worst calamities that can afflict any i nation, but if we profit by the- lessons of I

this war it will not have been fought in vain: Work for tho Future. "We can share to-day the joy of those who have 6ons in the fighting forces of the Empire. Their anxieties are being relieved. Tho parents have tho satisfaction of knowing that their soldier sous have done their duty, and that soon they will bo coniiug buck to the country to which they belong. (Cheers,) May that time come soon. We have to remember i when this war comes to an end that peace as well as war has its problems, and we havo to face these problems with.energy, intelligence, and industry. If we are to do our duty as citizens of tho Umpire in peace as wo have done in war, we havo got to uring about a state'of things that will le better i'rr this country, for the other countries engaged in the war, and for humanity as a whole. That is our consolation to-day for the sacrifices that have been mado, I say, as one of the public men of tho country, that we want the support of citizens. We have stood together as citizens during this long struggle; we havo done our duty.as citizens: we must continue to do our duty when ;his war cornea to an end, and 6ee v that wherever it is possible to bring about an improvement, and there are plenty of improvements possiblo, the improvement is made."

In conclusion, the Prime Minister expressed' a confident hope that tho timo was not far distant when ho would meet the citizens of Wellington again to celebrate the news that Germany had made unconditional surrender, ;-jid tad thrown herself on the mercy of the Allies. (Cheers.) . Sir Joseph Ward.' Sir Joseph Ward, Minister of Finance, then spoke. He was received with hearty cheers and applause. "For four years the Empire and its Allies have been stemming the effort of the dirty dogs who have been trying to wrest from you your lireedom and your liberty," said Sir Joseph Ward. "To-day we have these dogs of war craving and rsking for au armistice. The granting of tn armistice to them means tfle end oi Prussian militarism, it means that the Houses ol Hohenzollern a%d Hapsburg aro going to be buried in the mountain of iniquity that they have been erecting lor the last fifty years. It means that '.ho Kaieor, as head of tho House that has been ruling in Germany, is going to be annihilated. Abdication is being forced upon him now, but it will take him nil his timo to avoid the fate that befell the Tsar of ■Russia. Indemnities Necessary. "We are full of groat thankfulness and joy to : day, because right has triumphed over might, and the immutable principles of justice havo been proclai.ned to tho whole civilised world. For four years our men have been opposing rn enemy who never had a hope of winning in the long run. That enemy is responsible for tho prolongation of the war and for the loss of a stupendous number of lives, including a million British lives. . The war lords are prolonging the war to-day at tremendous cost in blood, although they realise that the pitfall lies before them, and that for them there is no escape. When this war is over it will have.cost more than a million British lives; I know that you will endorse what I-ani trying to give expression to when I say that wo .will not bo satisfied unless the last penny piece of indemnity is extracted from a blackguardly and ruthless foe, if only for the purpose of teaching the nations that have been associated with Germany that it will never pay them to be connected again with tho bloodthirsty scoundrels who have tried to dominate the world." (Cheers.)

Sir Joseph Ward added that his sympathy went out to those who had suffered" irreparable loss in the war. He feit sure that the sorrow of those who had lost loved ones on the field of battle would be iightencd by the kuowledgo that the sacrifice had not been in vain, and that tho Empire appreciated the services , that had been rendered. ''1 have no sympathy with the country that started tins war. I regard it as an absolute' horror of; the civilised times in which we, live that one man or a • few men at the head of an autocratic system of Government in Germany should ( bo able to plunge the whole world into war. I believe that one' of the retributions that is going to overtake the rulers of Germany is that their country will become a republic with the people themselves ruling." The Minister added that he hoped to meet the citizens again in the near future to celebrate the final downfall of Germany. Then there would be another gathering in connection with the_ war to celebrate the signing of peace. "When peace has been signed," he said, "I don't care personally if the people from end to end of New Zealand go mad with joy." (Cheers.)

The Defence Minister. Tremendous applause and cheers greeted Sir James Allen when he stepped forward to speak. "The man who.nas done the hard work of the war," was the Mayor's description of the Defence Minister! in introducing him to tho assembly. Mercies are being vouchsafed to us almost day by day," said Sir James Allen, "and we are looking for the crowning mercy of all. We.rejoice at theso mercies, and .we shall fully rejoice when the crowning mercy comes. We saw the silver lining in the cloud quite recently, and we knew that that fining will grow wider until the, end comes. I want to say a word or two to thoso who have experienced sorrow, but who to-day rejoice with everyone oi you who rejoice, that the time is coming, and coming very soon, when we shall not bo thinking about sending further remforcemonts, but thinking about setting up a permanent memorial to the men who have gone away and died, and the men who have served New Zealand during this war.. It seems to me. that that permanent memorial must take the shapo of something that will represent to us and to those who come alter us generations hence, the soul and the spirit of the men who went, to fight in this,, war. I think the most bountiful thing that con be devised ought to be set up in all of our largo towns, so that we may pass down to the generations that will come after us something that will be a token of the sacrifices • that have been made, and that will tell the beautiful story of tho men who have so nobly done their duty. I do not want to say more to you to-day. I rejoice with each one of you, and sympathise with thoso who have, lost their dear ones, but' I ask them to realise, as I do myself, that our sacrifices have not been in vain, for those who have died for New Zealand-have earned the Great Reward. (Cheers and applause.) On the call of the' Mayor, the gathering dispersed after the singing of tho National Anthem and the Doxology, and giving cheers for the King and the soldiers and sailors.