THE Pukekohe and Waiuku times PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1916 THE GREAT ANNIVERSARY

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 196, 1 August 1916, Page 2

THE Pukekohe and Waiuku times

PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1916 THE GREAT ANNIVERSARY

The Official Orqan ot . The Franklin County Council. The Pukekohe Borough Council. The Tuakau Town Board. The Karaka Road Board. The Pokcno Road Board. The Wairoa Ruad Board. The Papakura Town Board. The Waikato River Board. The Mercer Town Board. The Manurewa Town Board

"We nothing extenuate, nor set down auaht in malice."

Before our next issue reaches the hands ot our readers the Empire will have cntertd upon tin third year of the great war upon which the late of civilisation and Christianity hangs. Friday next will see the completion ol two years of struggle upon a scale never before witnessed, and by our enemies with a vicious disregard ot humanity and the common usages of civilised nations unknown since the Dark Ages of Europe. Throughout the Empire on Friday next her loyal sous and daughters will meet together, alike 111 the tiniest hamlet as in the vastest city to put their hands together ana raise their voices to avow their unbending resolution to carry through to complete victory this most unjust and ctuel war that has been forced upon us by the damnable lust for power of the tialfmad Kaiser and bis brutal soldiers. And let not one among us think that there will be enough without him, but let each be in Ins place to show how bxed and indomitable is the determination of the liriton that the war *IirII have no end but *.no. Hie day tliat, all unready, nil-

armed and unprepared a? die was, the Mother Country threw her handful ot regular Ho](Jiers—"Uer contemptible little army," as the Kasi:r s'yled it—between unoffending Belgium and placable France acd the onruahing millions of the unai:eakati3 Hit), sfce reachad the arex ct fcer fame as the champion of the wronged and the executioner cf the evil-Joir, and har fine spirit so animated her oversea daughters that tbey rushed to range themeelves at her side as fast as horse and man coulJ be got on ship-board. Our little regular army, ths finest and most efficient for its size the world has ever seen, died, it is true, but it di d as died the thr e hundred Spartar.s at Thermopylae, that the Knifire ani the world might 1 i\ e. No deeia in history can surpass in glory the great retreat to the Marne, and the two battles of Ypres, and from then the ultima'e i?sje of th 3 war was never in doubt, however much hardship and bbody fighting our men may still hive to go through. To our Naw, too, the "Ready, aye Ready" service," all hearts will naturally turn in gratitude next Friday, for without it we c .uld never have landed men 10 France, mr kept every single acre of our realm free f'iom the ravening invader. Nor without its all encircling care could we have fed our Motherland, and we and our fellow Dominions would have been helpless a3 sheep in the hands of the butcher. The happenings of this great war have been wonderful beyond the wiljist imaginings cf romance By every rule and cjnhn of warfare we should have been irretrievably defeated in tbe first two months, and new at the end of two years we emerge absolutely supreme at sea and second to nine on land. Uur gcll has been tried by fire, truly, and our nation was never so great, nor, we may justly believe, sj grat-ful and God-fearing as today. For who among us is so wcdJcd to agnosticism as to refuse to believe that the liod ot Battles is not etill a living Entity, ar.d our refuge and strength. Uur hands ar.d our hsarts will go acrus3 the sea 011 Fuday to our Motherland, to our feliow Domi.irns and to cur staunch and gallant allies, that with firmess in the right we may sliive cn and finish the work we have in hand. And, howeper loek and the road mßy be, let us with a single heart and mind pres3 011 towurds tin goal of justice, righteousness and C3ncord amng all nations, till with horcur to ojreelves we impose upon our enemies a just and lasting peare and greet the dawning of th2 perfect day to come with the consciousness that we have not failed or even faltered in our du'y.