The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 24th, 1925.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 April 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 24th, 1925.

THE DAY of IIEAI'EAIBRANCE. Timk passes quickly in tins days of busier movement, but more distant though the past may grow, it cannot eltace memories of a period engrained in the hearts and minds el the people. That event was the Croat War. Its period of trial and tension, of difficulty ami saoialLe was too memorable a time to cause ready forgetfulness. To-mor-iow is the day oi spe, ial 1 ememliraiue for this Dominion ol New Zealand and the Commonwealth of Australia. Tomorrow will lio the anniversary of the Anzac landing on Gallipoli when the colonial troops suffered their baptism ol fire and passed through an ordeal beyond ordinary comprehension excepting by actual actors in that realistic event, ft was war. It was Hell letloose. 'I lie Australian and New Zea-

hind Army Corps (from the initial letters of which the word Anzac was eoigned for brevity) had to face fearful odds. Ail entrenched enemy, armed with mode: u equipment, meeting untrrune.l and inexpcrieiK ed soldiers. Such were the odds, and they were great -tor it was, in stern reality, a gamble between life and death. Victory could l>e- bought only at a very dear prke. And the victory was achiev'd by the winning of the heights. The ?nomy despite their strength and preparation .were driven back and replac'd by the colonials who held on tentcionsly. Many made the supreme sae•ilicc, and many of the flower of Now Zealand manhood cf 1914 lie dead on iallipoli, the first fruits of the Great iVar, t.hat we here, to-day might he iving in peace. To-morrow, then is la ( ommemorate that day and subsequent < ays of sacrifice and suffering, when . nr men gave their lives no less bravely :;r the common victory. Time lias as- j uaged the blow, though memory re- _■ nils it. There is the disposition, per- ( apt;, not t:> forget, hut to fail to rea- j se the import of what all that sac-ri-ce and suffering meant. The count!y self has tried to meet the position * ith pensions and concessions, hut 1 lose important as they are, can never 0 ■quite for the dead, the maimed, the f 1 •okeu and lost health. In the earliest 11 ages of the war the Bishop of New- 1 .stle said:

“Wo watch our young fellows piss out to the. trenches to face bullet and shell and poisonous fumes for our safety. They take our lives and projKM'ty in trust and go out and die cheerfully for the idea of national security. What claims have I on them that they have not on me? Can I ever again sit 'down idly and forget the obligations I have contracted?” How can we to-day answer those questions, and we have a right to apply them to ourselves just as much as the noble Bishop. For we, like he, laenefit from “the idea of national security”, under which we daily go about our business and occupstions whereby we enjoy our lives and our property—such as it mat be. Yet, without that sacrifice.

all our assets which go to make up the comfort of our lives and living would hare been lest, levied upon by a victorious enemy, who would have sapped the rerv life blocd from the vnn-

finished in what would have been an orgy of triumph. Our gratitude should he always practical towards those who bellied save the nation. It was a personal benefit in which all participated. And while we gratefully remember the day with its sacrifice* and prowess, its nobleness of spirit and devotion, let us he thankful, too, that in the hour of test and trial, the national spirit was such as to rise superior to all other considerations save only the integrity of the nation as a whole. Those who went forth to war in the first flush of the. great conflict and thousands'who followed after (many inspired hv the noble deeds and great sacrifice of those who had gone before) went readily and voluntarily in discharge of a national ideal which is otir greatest asset as a people—the true spirit of self-sacri-fice and devotion to the nation’s ends—that spirit which aroused the pointed questions above put to himself by the Bishop of Newcastle. In this time of remembrance it is pleasant to know that when most needed a true patriotism permeated the people. Let us today and thereafter practice the same .self-denying patriotism, honouring in every way those who served and above all. ourselves forgetting not to imitate so great and glorious an example as the men of Anzae and those who followed them have left as a great heritage to the people of New Zealand.