GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 226, 18 June 1915, Page 7

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

FALSE BOTTOMED TRUCKS DETAINED. BY ROUMANIAN AUTHORITIES, (Reed 11,55 £tm.) BUCHAREST, June 16. Roumanian authorities stopped another train of twenty trucks proceeding to Turkey Avith double framework and the spaces filled with shells. All were confiscated. Socalled German and Austrian couriers are daily passing towards Turkey with invariably .large quantities! of luggaga cases. It is r supposed they contain Red Cross material. Many were found to contain war material and apparatus for poisonous gases. GREAT MEMORIAL SERVICE. ' TO OUR DEAD HEXOES. A MEMORABLE EVENT. LONDON, June 16. The memorial service at St. Paul's Cathedral in memory of New Zealanders who fell at the Dardanelles was deeply impressive. There was a crowded congregation, which inehided rela' tives of the dead, also four hundred Australian and New Zealand wounded men from Weymouth and Harefield Park. Some were on crutches witty limbs bandaged. Many were wearing hospital garments. Rows of khaki-clad soldiers filled the space under the dome. Australian and New Zealand flags were above the choir. Lord Kintore represented the King. The service began with the hymn, "Brief Life Is Here Our Portion." After the 23rd and 130th Psalms had been read, Spohr's Anthem, "Blest Departed," was sung by the ch»ir. The Rev. W. Basley, Sub-Dean, lately of New Zealand, read the lesson —the raising of Lazarus (St. John, 11th i chapter). An Inspiring Senmon. After "Rock of Ages" had been sung and a special litany read, the Archbishop preached a sermon based on John 15-13, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life 'for his friends." The preacher said j they had met for a very sacred purpose —to thank God for the splendid devotion of their brethren from AusI tralia and New Zealand, who, in the : cause whereto the Empire had set its hands, had loved not their lives to death. The feat of April 25th had never been outshone, and seldom equalled. He pictured the perils of th* landing and the dauntless gallantry brave men had showed in storming the heights and holding on afterwards. Their deeds had become part of the Empire's heritage for ever. The deeds were more splendid and inspiring when it was remembered that they were not the achievements of some veteran corps but of men who a few months before had. been civilians, in the bush, on sheep-runs, or in the townships of Australia and New Zealand. Who would have thought when the young nations were implanted in the southern seas that a hundred years later they would ~-r.q'>». the. sens .9VJ\ sh\r<y the Empire V 1 t &&ii&i£lz :&^MM&£:'

linod in the shadow of the Pyramids, make the first onset on the plains of Troy? These things have been done. Fearful be the cost, but the great roll of drums and the 'Dead March' to-night ■will reverberate the thanks of the Motherland to the farthest limits of the Empire. God give us grace to bear ourselves as a united people, that we may build out of this welter of pain and strife a nobler habitation to which the honour and glory of every nation may add something distinctive.''

The service closed with the hymn, "Now the Labourer's Task • is o 'er," sung by the congregation kneeling. ' military band played the "Dead March" in Saul, which was answered from the end of the nave by buglers flaring the "Last Post." Then was sung the National Anthem. - A FINE TBIBUTE. ■I ! LONDON, June 16. The Times, referring to the memorial service, says: "We hold the Australians and New Zealanders in special prize for the proof they have, given that the spirit of Greater Britain is undiminished. Every advico from the Dardanelles only adds to our admiration of the audacious, constant, and \ steady valour under conditions the danger of which are only beginning to be realised.