The Daily News. MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1913. THE DREADNOUGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 13, 16 June 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1913. THE DREADNOUGHT.

I If the weather will only be as complaisant to-morrow as it is at the mo- i ment, there will be a record attendance ■ ,of visitors in New Plymouth on the occasion of the visit of the battleship New Zealand. For weeks past we have been making arrangements for the anticipated courtesy call of the giant war vessel, and it is to the credit of the town our representative citizens should Spared neither their time nor their money to give the children a chance, and to make our guests, carry with them quite as pleasant memories of our historic district as they may; already of other places of interest m the Dominion, i. Every point that it was humanly posi sible; to" foresee has been 'arranged for <i\i the most complete fashion, both for ac-' ; cbminbdation, catering and transit of the immense crowd that will throng the neighborhood of the wharf. What we want to impress now is that it is "up to the, general public to take their share of the responsibility and to individually do everything in their'power to help the Committee to make the day the success it promises to be. And first and foremost it milst be remembered that it is primarily children's day, and that precedence, wherever possible, must be given to the youngsters. If the elders will remember this, they can do much !! to ease the responsibilities. We want the little ones not only .to view the vessel as a spectacle, but also to realise the spirit in which their fathers and r | mothers denied themselves of some lux- | ury or another in order to make this | magnificent present to the Empire. It is the spirit that won Trafalgar and won Waterloo, and that made the Empire mistress over seven se'as. We'have no sympathy with thoae blind and perverted moles—infanta crying in the earth and with jio language but a cry —who are protesting against the cruise of the New Zealand as being a demoralising exhibition of jingoism. The most ardent Imperialist is not anxious that the stately f j vessel should ever go into action, for J she is neither a menace nor a threat j to the peace of nations, but simply a ) symbol of safeguard, a- ; tangible assertion of oiir motto, "What we have, we hold.", „ .The Motherland has bred and reared US', •:has made safe for us the highways of the sea and the? byways by land, and it is only fair that having reached years 5 of maturity her children overseas should give of the wealth they have won for her more-ample protection and their own. Everybody in .the country, even the most extreme anti-militarist, has a personal share in this stately monarch . of the sea; and we hope that no discordant note will be struck to-morrow, ,but that the day will be in very truth literally a red-letter one in Taranaki. As a town,',we have done all that could be done to make the occasion a happy ' and memorable one. The rest remains with, tjie citizens .and settlers of the • .province.