POPPY DAY.

Otaki Mail, 24 April 1922, Page 2

POPPY DAY.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amidst the guns below.! We arc the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lio la Flanders fields. Every soldier who served in Franco during the summer months will remember the red poppy of Flanders. .Just as the fern is associated with New Zealand, the wattle with Australia, the rose with England, the Ihistlc with Scotland and the shamrock with Ireland, so is ihe red poppy with Northern France. Many of llio graves of our fallen are al the. present time blanketed with these little, flowers. It is, this sentiment that influenced the ex-sol-diers of Britain, Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand to adopt the red flower as the memorial flower to be worn in honour of onr dead. To-day thousands of artificial poppies are being sold in every city, town and township in New Zealand, and to-morrow, these flowers will be worn in remembrance of our dead lying in the various countries where the N.Z.E.F. fought. Committees representing ladies’ onganisn lions, soldiers’ widows, soldiers’ v'i vex, widowed mothers and the R.K.A. have been formed in the large towns, and everything is being willingly prepared for a successful day. Poppy Day is the biggest public day yet staged by the N.Z. R.S.A. and it is to be hoped that their efforts will be crowned with success. The poppies were made in devastated Northern France, and after paying for these the N.Z.IES.A. will clevot# the re maiuder of the money to the relief of unemployment among returned soldiers. This is not a selfish idea, as the absorption of unemployed soldiers will roast beneficially upon general unemployment throughout New Zealand. Most successful Poppy Days were held in Canada, the United Stales, and in Australia last Armistice Day, and it is confidently expected that New Zca laud will beat their record. In Otaki ladies were busy to-day and disposed of quite a large number.