GOVERNOR-GENERAL

Hokitika Guardian, 3 July 1929, Page 5

GOVERNOR-GENERAL

ARRIVAL AT HASTINGS.

By Telegraph—Press Assn., Copyright.

HASTINGS, July 3. Tlie Governor-General and Lady Alice I* erguson ■ arrived last evening and were received by the Mayor, Mr Campbell M.P., and prominent citizens. '■ i •

Later His Excellency was the guest of an ex-servicemen’s fe-union, and on rising to reply to his health he received a tumultuous • reception, He said, in the course of his speech, that in all functions he attended, none afforded him greater pleasure than meeting old comrades who had beeln through the mill with him, and those veterans .of the Maori, South African and other wars Jong past: The services of these veterans who had .borne the,brunt of battle in the pastj must not be ,forgotten at R.S.A. re-uiii'6ns, or their deeds allowed to be eclipsed by the Great War. . j Referring, to a speech he made in Auckland, he said that a statement he made regarding'the observance of Anzac Day hadb been misuriderstbodi He heard, it- said that he had . advised the holding of a different kind of Arizac Day, and' that it should be a'day of holiday and jollification. He said nothing of the sort. What he did say was that in our' services on' -Anzac', Day we should keep up the intense solemnity of the services, but that we should not let the sadness of the occasion overshadow the glory of the day, which was quite a different thing to altering the character of the."day. He did not like services when women wept. It was not in the spirit of the men who died that we should .think only of the mournful side,, and lay no stress on the glory of the deeds ,oL; those who had fallen. ’ ■ ' \

Continuing, he said: Those who had the good fortune to return from ; the war had still Avork to do by fostering the spirit of comradeship by never Jetting a comrade doAvn. They had served their King in the stress of Avar, and they had-common sense, courage, and every quality or a good s6ldier, and so by going the fight Avav about it, they could exercise a great influence on the community and hold their respect by acting in co-operation, as they did in war.

He concluded by saying when he Avent Home h 8 Avould do everything he could to help Lord Jellicoe, avlio was their good friend, a& a testimony of his. gratitude to the people of NeAv Zealand, avlio, had been so good to them in this country.

A croAvd of nearly 700 ex-servtee men rose and loudly cheered His Excellency. '