SERVICE OF TRIBUTE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1628, 24 October 1916, Page 3

SERVICE OF TRIBUTE.

TO NEW ZEALAND HEROES. The Rev. G. K. Aitken, of Mcthven (formerly Presbyterian minister at Paxton) conducted a service of tribute to the New Zealand heroes who had fallen at the front, in bis church recently. The pulpit was <lrapod with the Union Jack, and on cither side of the pulpit were printed the names of a limit fifty boys from his congregation win. ha,! gone to tin* front to do battle for King and country. In the course of an eloquent sermon, Mr Aitken said: “Do not let any one imagine that this great European war has no interest for us. Do not let the thought take possession ot our minds that the defence of Belgium and Eram-e was no business of ours; that we should have allowed the nations of Europe to selile their own differences. Had we adopted such a policy as that, it was only a matter of time when we would have had to tight for our independence and liberty, only a matter of time when the power that laid Belgium in ruins and filled her graves with outraged women ami little children and old men in the evening of their lives, would have brought upon this fair land all the horrors of a similar experience. For, bail Germany in her determination to establish an empire in the Pacific which it is now made clear was her original intent ion, and had sought these sunny islands of the Southern Seas which we proudly designate ‘God’s Own Country’ (a very probable tiling indeed), ami had we resisted, as we would have done without a doubt, to our last men, our women, our children, our institutions, would have suffered a similar fate to that- of occupied but yet nnconquered Belgium; for no country can be held to be conquered whose people are not subdued arid brought under the government of the invader. In fighting in the lands of the northern hemisphere our lads tiro lighting for us just as truly as though their blood (lowed in streams and their bodies lay in graves of our own making in their native laud. r l he overthrow of Germany and German military dominance is just as sacred a duty for ns as though (heir guns were haltering down our cities and their armies sweeping over our rural lands, and it is the knowledge, of this (hat has made heroes of our men, that for our sakes they would rather light this foe leagues away from home and loved ones than that (lie experiences of an invasion should come to us. And they are laying down their lives to-day and their bodies are finding their last resting places in foreign lands and in unnamed graves because they were afraid to let the enemy get a footing in their dear home land. And bow are they fighting for us? Listen! Hear the terms of the official report of the first contact of our brave boys with the German soldier. “The Australasian troops allowed discipline and capacity for being controlled intelligently amid the awful surroundings of a night attack, which only those who saw them in light places on Gallipoli would have suspected. The ollicers sacrificed themselves with sheer carelessness of anything hut, duly.” What they did at: the Dardanelles, what, they have done since in Picardy will remain for all lime as the history of a great and noble enterprise, nobly undertaken and nobly sustained. The days will come when the night of sorrow has passed,when the war clouds have been dispersed; that we shall look hack upon (hose days id! stress and sorrow with a sense of pride for the famous deeds done by the simple boys we have nourished and developed, not with a view to war, but for the pursuits of peace. The casualty lists nave of late brought: sorrow and anxiety to many hearts, the sorrow and the anxiety, my friends, is not so bard to heal' as would be the dishonour if our boys bad failed in the hour of trial. And 1 am sure 1 speak for you as well a> for myself —and (he iron has entered my soul —when 1 say that we would rather know of our brave lads fallen facing the enemy, than llinehing in the moment of supreme trial, or turning aside from duty, We stand 10-mght, figuratively, around the graven of New Zealand's fallen heroes, and it is only now we realise how much we loved them, lint, we are proud of them, and their memories and then; noble deeds will never be forgot ten by ns; their splendid achievements will ever be a spur to us to imitate their grander lives and consecration, to duty. In our own little circle in this community there are some who have gone out from, as in the strength of a full manhood whose memories we wiii keep as we would the most precious things of life. But whoever is called away let us comfort ourselves with the thought that they have done their duty nobly and well, and are promoted to a higher service. My friends, what does all this mean to us ; Are we after luis to go on in sehisli satisfaction seeking only our own aggrandisement? Or are we to let the lives sacrificed for us inspire us to uubie deeds likewise? The love of pleasure lias laid such a hand upon us as a people, that even to-<iuy a great many seem indifferent and .callous 1,0 Lne suffering all around them. The giddy dance, the concert room, the theatre, the picture show, are as popular ns ever they were, and in spue of lonely and suffering hearts all around us, tucse things claim the patronage of multitudes, but how many will give up an hour once a week to help to make bandages to bind .UP the itwful wounds of our suffering lads, God is calling us to higher things, my friends. Quit your selfishness, be as strong and

self-sacrificing as the men who arc giving their all for you in the

trenches of Picardy, in the burning, broiling sands of Egypt and Mesopotamia, of Salonica, and upon the waves of the mighty deep, and you will have the satisfaction of knowing that yon have done your “bit” where' in the Providence of God your lot lias been cast, and only (has will you be able to look into the eyes of our men who are spared to return, and be unashamed.”