ARMISTICE DAY CEREMONY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2200, 9 November 1920, Page 3

ARMISTICE DAY CEREMONY.

IMPRESSIVE WORLD-WIDE CELEBRATIONS.

■The,Prime Minister announced in (he House of Representatives on Saturday morning- that His Excellency the Governor-General had received the following- cablegram from his Majesty’s Secretary of State for (he Colonies in connection with, the observance of Armistice Day in Great Britain“lt has been decided that on Thursday, November I.lth, being the second anniversary of the Armistice, the Cenotaph in Whitehall shall be unveiled by His Majesty the King, and that as part of the ceremony ,on that day there shall he buried in Westminster Abbey an unknown British warrior whose body shall be taken from amongst those buried in France. Every precaution will he taken to prevent his identity being known. Coffin will be brought to Cenotaph, where it will be met by the King at ( ended by representatives, of the whole Empire. There will he a short service at the Cenotaph consisting of the singing of the hymn ‘0 God, Our Help in Ages Past,’ and the Lord’s Prayer. This service'will be so limthat unveiling of Cenotaph takes place at 11 a.m., exactly after which there will be two minutes’ silence followed by ‘Last Post.’ Wreaths will then be laid by His Majesty, the Prime Minister, and representatives of the Empire. Funeral procession will then proceed to Abbey, where funeral service will take place, the body being hurled In a grave in the nave of the Abbey. It is proposed that thoughts of all may be coneenbo during the two minutes’ silence complete suspension of all norma! business, work, and locomotion throughout the United Kingdom, that thoughts of all ray be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead.” In New Zealand, added Mr Massey, we are equally interested with the Mother Country .in the observance of Armistice Day, and he proposed, on behalf of the Government, to ask the people of New Zealand to celebrate the day in a similar manner to that proposed for Great Britain, by (he observation of two minutes’ silence at 11 o’clock. He would arrange with the Minister of Internal Affairs to give the necessary publicity to the matter.