Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, MARCH 18th 1919 PEACE CELEBRATIONS.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 March 1919, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, MARCH 18th 1919 PEACE CELEBRATIONS.

The time is at hand when the local organisation should set about considering the method of celebrating the signing of the Treaty of Peace which will end formally the Great War which lasted with such intensity' for upwards of four years .and a quarter. All round the Empire these preparations are in hand, and seeing that it is an occasion for very special celebration, it is time a local programme were put into shape. The form of celebration does not call for unlicensed rejoicings or an excess of spirit wnereby the great victory would be gloated over. ' The fight was so fierce and long, its issue so doubtful, that the sacrifice it entailed and the relief which victory brought occasion really a humble hut-full spirit of thankfulness for the final triumph accorded the Allied Torecs. Adopting this spirit in a Christiau country, there must he first a form of religious ‘observance whereby all parts of the nation can render thanks according to their belief. Probably there has been no greater occasion when all the folk might join together as people of one common faith to render thanks for the victory which all helped jointly to secure, and which after many vicissitudes was finally vouchsafed. Next there will be the very proper desire to show honour and gratefulness to those men and women who directly con. tributed by their personal sacrifice to the victory achieved. This expression of gratitude must not be skimped. The expression of public opinion to bo made on such an occasion should take the form of securing to the men and women who served on active service everything that the State can do in fairness and justice to recognise thfeir services. There are those, too, who have fallen. The dependents of these must remain a special charge on the country, while to honour the memory of the men and women who have laid down their lives, a memorial worthy the great sacrifice should be reared, so for all time as men speak of the Great War they may recall the memory of those who were sacrificed that peace and security should be secured for those who came after. The lessons of the war should be impressed on the young and rising generation. They really will have the opportunity of building the new world possible in a long era of peace and security, It is well that their lives should be marked by an event which will impress their young minds and suggest to the need to so order their lives and thoughts that they may reap the full advantage won, and which all the sacrifice of the war entailed to secure supremacy. There seems to be these four cardinal points for consideration in the adoption of a peace celebration programme. Perhaps a fifth is necessary, to bring home to the adult population the wisdom of loyalty and regard for authority so that the fruits of the enlarged freedom secured might be the better enjoyed by the nation. The loyalty must,-.not be only to the Crown, but to one’s duty also, so that men and women will be good and honest citizens prepared to play their part in the same unselfish spirit as those soldiers, who, not counting the cost, did not hesitate to plunge into the fray that all might he well, and victory secured the fruits of which we may gather with our own hands if each and all would shine to do his duty honestly and fairly in whatever path of life he moves.