ANZAC DAY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3630, 26 April 1927, Page 2

ANZAC DAY.

MEMORIAL SERVICES.

Anzac Day was fittingly celebraU’d in Foxton yesterday. The woollier conditions were very favourable and enabled numbers of settlers in the outlying district'to come into town and join in the memorial service. The arrangements for the afternoon service were caried out by the local committee of the Returned Soldiers’ Association assisted by the Mayor and ministers of the local churches, and were carried out with praiseworthy precision. The Silver Band, augmented by the Salvation Army Band, and conducted by Mr. Tongs added greatly to the impressiveness of the occasion. AT THE SCHOOL. The first service was held at the District High School, at 10 a.m. when an appropriate programme arranged by the headmaster, Mr. Mason, was carried out. Those in attendance were the school children, Scouts, Girl Guides and Brownies, parents, the Mayor and Mayoress (Mr. and Mrs. Perreau), Captain Yeo, members of Committee and public. The service was held on the lawn in front of the school. The hymns, “0 God our Help in ages Past,” and “Onward Christian Soldiers” were sung and a scripture lesson read by the Rev. W. H. Nicholas and prayer and Benediction by the Rev. W. H. Walton. An appropriate address was delivered by the Rev. S. Peryman and brief speeches by Messrs ,J. K. Hornblow and Mr. Kerehana (Maori Pioneers). The school roll of Honour was read by the headmaster and floral tributes placed at the fool of the tablet -by the children. The flag was saluted and the National Anthem sung and the “Last Post” sounded by Sergeant-Bugler B. Walls. The service throughout was most impressive. AFTERNOON SERVICE.

Main Street was thronged with people shortly after 2 pan. to witness the parade of Returned Soldiers, veterans, Fire Brigade, Friendly Societies, Scouts, Girl Guides and Brownies, headed by the combined bands. The procession was marshalled by Mr. MeMurray. On passing the soldiers’ memorial, the order was given “eyes left” and heads were turned by the various detachments towards the memorial on passing. The attendance at the Town Hall was very large. The stage was occupied by the combined bands which accompanied the singing, the Mayor (Mr. M. E. Perreau), Captain Yeo, Captain J. M. Stewart, the Revs. W. H. Walton (Anglican), Nicholas (Presbyterian), S. Peryman (Methodist), Adjutant Samson (Salvation Army). After the National Anthem had been sung the Mayor briefly addressed the assemblage. The hymn “0 God our Help in ages Past” was then sung followed by a prayer by the Rev. S.

Peryman. “Kipling’s Recessional” was then sung followed by scripture readings by Adjutant Samson (Romons VIII) and Mr. Nicholas (John XIV). Mrs. Yeo sang “Land of Hope and Glory,” very acceptably. This was followed by a stirring address by Captain J. M. Stewart (Palmerston North. He said the 25th of April stands out in letters of gold in our New Zealand calendar. This day each year calls us to assemble ourselves together, to commemorate a great event in the history of our Dominion. Today we thankfully acknowledge that the springs of victory have been found in the grace and favour of Almighty God. We are met here to hallow the principles of a mighty conflict, by virtually relating it to the providence which enlightened our councils and blessed our arms. In the year 1914, he said, our nation was divinely honoured by a sacred call to sacrificial service; it was a call to the ministry of emancipation. We were summoned as a Dominion to take our stand by -he august standard of international rectitude and honour. It was a bugle-peal and a bugle-peal which could only have been unheeded, at the price and loss of our national soul. It called us to a rough and stormy road. It offered us only hardships, sorrows and tears. No one knew how long the road might be, or where it would lead before we reached the end. It was black with the menace of tragedy and death. But we heard the summons and answered it and were there that day to thank Almighty God that the solemn distinction of this knightly call was laid upon us and that we were challenged to surrender our strength in the ministry of universal freedom. They were there to remember the Divine providence which abounded through those dark and gloomy four years.

Our national unity was preserved unbroken, said the speaker. The purpose which inspired us in 1914, was kept afresh and vigorous as though by the sustenance of hidden manna by an unseen hand, right through to the end of 1918. Our patience never fainted; our courage never lost its nerve; the lamp of hope shone through the long night, and our reserves of oil never failed and for all the mercies of the years of conflict we worshipped God. We offered praise that the protracted struggle ended in an almost incredible completeness of triumph and that the strongholds of international mischief and iniquity were levelled to the dust.

We gave thanks for the devotion and service of the men of the N.Z. Division, and for that noble band of women of the Nursing division, for the courageous spirit which they showed, and for the gallant way in which they left the peaceful occupations of life for the way in which they gave up the liberty and joy of their sports, and for the noble way in which they gave up everything that was dear to them in home-life. And, said the speaker, if I may say so, we are more than indebted, not only ourselves, but the whole Empire, to those men of Australia and New Zealand, who, in the 25th of April, 1915, so gallantly stormed the heights of Gallipoli. We picture them to-day, continued the speaker, rejoicing in the full strength of youth, trained until it was almost impossible for them to be harder, longing for the battle and the opportunity of doing some feat of arms, which would place them on a level with the heroes of Mons, the Marne, and Ypres, they wait with long delay for the day to come. the day to come. At last one evening there is a movement among the battleships. The “Queen Elizabeth” steams out majestically and away—then another great grey ship, followed by another—now at last, the transports are moving. ‘Hurrah! Hurrah!’ We move now on the heroes’ track, and so (the gfeatjadventurehashegun for the A.N.Z.A.C. But what is that we hear? Thunder of the guns at Holies. Thunder of the guns on the beach that was later named Anzac. Along the whole coast the great grey warships patrolling slowly fire broadside after broadside and from the shore came the quick rattle of musketry. Australia had landed, New Zealand was landing. All was confusion, except for the one dominating idea —to go forward, find and fight the enemy. By night-fall the landing was assured. Gradually order was restored —men came back to their companies. The line was organised and trenches dug, and after a week of wild, continuous fighting, continuous carrying and digging, the A.N.Z.A.C. had a sure hold on what, was after known as the Old Anzac Ring. And so it was on that day that our men began to place in the annals of history a tradition of the pluck and chivalry of New Zealand, and now, long after the warfare‘has ended, we see our banners unfurled without stain and without defeat.

We tenderly remembered those who had fallen in the fight said the speaker. Their sacred dust made the very land in which they rested, a holy land. Their blood had not been wasted like waters spilt upon the sand, nor had their lives been broken up in the midst of years. Lives that are consummated in sacrifice could never find a fitting metaphor or symbol in a broken column, but rather iu the polished shaft, crowned with the fairest lily-work. Our son, our comrades, our friends who laid down their lives for the race, had finished their course; they had run the race; they had fought the light and they had

passed through the sacrifice to the exalted ministry of a still larger and nobler service.

We reached the end of the fighting, said Capt. Stewart, and gained the victory, but as we are reminded in our communion with Almighty God that though we reached the goal in the campaign and obtained peace; yet we are not at the end of the way and the purpose of the service that day was not only to commemorate Anzac and the other victories gained on the field of battle, and the wonderful way in which we have travelled, but to hallow the days that lie before us. We were there to dedicate the coming days and years in our land, and assembled like thousands of others that day to make greater history possible. They were there in order to create an atmosphere in which great things could be done, and, said the speaker, the moral.strength that had destroyed one thing could construct a better thing. It had crumbled a fortress; it could build a house. It had cleared a jungle; it could make a garden. It could go through the bye-ways and highways of our national life, making the crooked things straight and the rough places plain. So it must interpret our thoughts- and purposes aright, when, while we commemorated the first and the other great battles in the history of the N.Z. Division in the great European War, and to thank God for the victories achieved. Wc were also present to enlist in a new crusade to hallow a larger, richer and nobler patriotism, and we all knew how great and strong that was during the years of war, but somehow or other, it had fallen into oblivion.

It was necessary that we should consecrate our national unity in the name of our “Father who art in Heaven” and who has given us the victory, and as true people of a Christian race and members and adherents of the Christian Church, we should pledge ouselves to use the strength and fruits of victory in the service of righteousness and in the ministry of truth and freedom.

Concluding, Capt, Stewart said ‘God save the King! God save the people! God weld our Empire into an ever' more intimate fellowship, into the intimacy of an ever happier Commonwealth whose bond is righteousness and whose experience shall be joy and peace for evermore.’ “From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast, Through gates of pearl stream in the countless host Singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” Following the address the hymn “O Valiant Hearts” was sung, and the Rev. W. 11. Walton pronounced the benediction. The assemblage then adjourned to the Soldiers’ Memorial and while the band played “A Garland of Flowers” the Returned Soldiers, Scouts, Fire Brigade, Friendly Societies, Girl Guides and Brownies placed wreaths at the foot of the Memorial. All then stood at attention whilst Sergeant-Bugler Walls sounded the “Last Post.” The retiring collection totalled upwards of £lO the surplus from which will be used to improve the appearance of the Soldiers’ Memorial. AT OROUA DOWNS. The hall was filled with the large number who assembled at the memorial service at 7.30 o’clock last night, and included a number of Foxton returned men and friends. The service was conducted by the Rev. Mr Peryman, who explained the reason for the service, and briefly recalled the landing at Gallipoli. He then called on the Mayor of Foxton (Mi* Perreau) to address the gathering, and who spoke feelingly of the occasion. Hymns appropriate to the -service were sung. * The Scripture reading was given by the Rev. Wi. 11. Nicholas, and the prayers and address by the Rev. W. H. Walton, who in speaking took for his subject, “Memories,” and based his address on'the first verse of the hymn, “O, Valiant Hearts.” He said the memory of the sacx-ifice of the Anzaes and their service was beautiful to us, and while memory brought the pleasant and beautiful to our minds, it also brought the sadness and sorrow of those times. But the inspiration to a great ideal for us was to be found in both the beautiful and the sadness. The Anzac memories of heroism and fortitude were an inspiration to us to live lives of righteousness, purity and peace, that we might honour the dead not by display, but by living lives of love to all. The Benediction was pronounced by the Rev. Mr Peryman, and the Last Post sounded by Sergt. Bugler Walls. After the service the ladies of Oroua Downs entertained the Returned Soldiers and visitors to an appetising supper, when various toasts were given and honoured.