ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 August 1917, Page 7

ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR.

EMPIRE ADAMANT. CELEBRATION'S THROUGHOUT THE DOMINION. Tn probably cvrrv part of New Zealand public meetings were held, called by the heads of the various local bodies at the request of the Prime Minister, to commemorate the third anniversary of Britain's declaration of war with Germany, and to pans the following resolution, submitted for approval by the Government:— "That on this, the third anniversary of the declaration of a righteous war, this meeting of the citizens of Ivew Plymouth records its inflexible determination to continue to a victorious end the struggle in maintenance of those ideals of liberty and justice which are the common and sacred cause of the Allies."

IN NEW PLYMOUTH. The gathering in New Plymouth took place in front of the courthouse, and was characteristic, in numbers and iu spirit, of the enthusiastic loyalty and determination permeating the entire community. The Territorials, Senior Cadets, Boy Scouts, and High School Cadots, the lastnani"d corps making a particularly fine display, were drawn up in hollow square facing the court-house verandah; inside this square the Citizens' Band took their station, and outside there was a largo crowd of the general public, including many visitors from the country, all eager 'to take part in the proceedings, and listening to the patriotic speeches with sympathetic interest, at times applauding to the echo the stirring addresses. On the top of the ;>teps of the courthquse were assembled the Mayor (Mr. C. H. Burgess), several members of the New Plymouth Borough Council, the town clerk, and representatives of various patriotic societies. With them were several visitors from other parts of the Dominion, including Mr. Shacklock, exMayor of Dunedin. The celebrations were opened by the band playing the National Anthem, and the Mayor then addressed the large assemblage.

His Worship said: This day twelv months ago we met at the request of th Prime Minister to pass a resolution de daring our determination to continu tho war it all costs, and we are her to-day for t!:i same purpose. The re solution is cold and business-like, ther is is no waste of words, there can to no misunderstanding of its moaning, ai expression of the sentiments of a natioi dragged unwillingly into war, but. beln; in, is determined to stay in until th< objects aimed at have Vcn achieve namely, the right, of aJI nations, great o small, to live. It is not necessary ti enter into details »3 to the causes of th war. They are known too well to ail But in considering whether 'We shouli continue this war the first and mail point to remember is that Germany, ii August, ltlll, after forty years' prepara tion for war. decided the time was ripi for putting those preparations to tin test, and, despite the efforts of the othe; ;rreat nations to dissuade her, threv 'lewn the gauntlet and prepared to erusl France, with Britain to possibly follov later. There were, however, two mis calculations on the part of Germany two miscalculations that turned tin whole trend of the war. The first wa> that she never for one moment dreaml Belgium would dare to resist the ad vance of her army through Belgian terri tory, and the second, which was th< neatest erTOT of many made by oui unemy in this war, that Britain, though pledged by treaty to defend Belgium \s 'was Germany herself, \vm too indolent, too selfish, and decadent to do e re than, at tho most, oiler a feeble protest. It is a matter of history what lid happen. Belgium resisted, This jallant little country preferred death to lishonor, and by her great effort delayed he invasion of France till that country vas able to marshal her forces on the Belgian frontier, which, depending on •he honor of Germany as a groat nation, ihe had left practically unprotected, iritain immediately declared war. Her leet, fortunately ready for action, proeeded at once to bottle the German leet in their own ports, and there thoy emain to-day. Her (Britain's) army ras small, but she sent all tho men she iad across the Channel, some 120,000 ten, who took part in tho earliest stages f the war and made themselves for ever amous in the great retreat. So well lid they uphold the traditions of tho Sritiah army that few of the gallant land are loft to-day, but the stoty of hat retreat will live in history for sver. Britain, as we know, did not i'ant war, and was totally unprepared, lut tho great efforts of France and Kel;ium gave ber time to slowly and surely, inder the great master mind of Lord i:tellercr, organise her vast resources in nen and material, with the rejuit that •fter three years of hard "and bitter Ighting, when our Allies, though uniiuntej, are feeling tho strain, 'ire ale ,bl« to take up and bear our fu.II share .nd more of tho burden. We all know if the wonderful work that lias been ione in those three years. from un ,rmy of 120,000 men has sprung one of uillions, and not only have we the men, >ut everything and to spare for so great ai army. Britain may nave been asleep, iut »Ue u very much awake now, and he enemy is feeling her heavy blows, in rhich our own men are taking no unforthj part. This Dominion, the Comttonwealth. Canada, India, South Africa, a fact every part of the Empire, has allied to the flag, and it is to the everasting credit of Britain's methods of caling with her dependencies that those ■'ho a few years ago, in South Africa, rero our bitter foes are now freely and oluntarily fighting for ihe Union Jack, loming back to tho resolution. Why hould we continue tho war? Because, ii the first place, to make peace now, iitli Germany holding so much of our Lilies' territory, would be to practically .dmit defeat, and all the three years' oil and expenditure and bloodshod would >e utterly and absolutely wasted and n vain. Can we submit'to this, prob.bly to begin again at once to prepare or another and more brutal war than lie present! We owe it to our allies 0 continue. The never-to-be-forgotten ight put up by Belgium and France aved France, and in saving France saved Sngland from a perilous position, if not 1 master. I am not forgetting the part ilayed by our own little array, but if lermany had occupied the northern iort" of Franca our position would have ieen a very different one to-day, and the ransport of men aiul material very liflicult, if not almost imposaiUe. Had rermanr been able to fortify those ports ■nd make of them submarine bases, a: hey did with the Belgian ports, the iu*§iou of England would not have boeji :o remote a possibility. Though we iave done wonders in this war in teaming our Allies,, providing n»n an 4 gj|-

teriaj and eil that ig toeeess&ry td Carry on the war, we owe it, I think, to France and Belgium t h/it the invasion of England is now well nigh an impossibility. That is surely something worth payicg for, when we think of the terI riblo fate of those countries that have been so unfortunate as to come under the heel of the German army. Again, ttofe late Prime Minister of England, Mr. Asquith, declared most emphatically, and the present Prime Minister only a few days ago confirmed it, that war shall j m>t cease till Belgium and the other nations that have suffered .bo grievously at Germany'a hands shall hire had restitution. England's word is her bond, and \ England's word is our word. There are j reasons without end why war should not cease till we have won a decisive victory. Think of the suffering and the ; poverty and misery that have been j caused. Think of the millions of men j slaughtered and maimed, the ruthless waste of the countries occupied by the enemy, and the inhuman and brutal treatment of the peoples of those countries, the ill-treatment of prisoners, the ruthless submarining, the air raids, the only objects of which seem to be the murder of helpless women and children, and the inhuman and fiendish devices invented with which to conduct the war. It ii that all these things and man; others shall not again happen that th« Allies are fighting, and that £he object a for which they are fighting are worthy ones the entrance of America into tho war is a sure guarantee. Then, to oonae nearer home, there are some 7000 reasons why wo in New Zealand should continue the war, and these reasons are the 7000 graves of our men across the sea, in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Those graves cry out for us not to desert the men who lie there, not to make their sacrifices in vain. They have given their Uvea that we in this land shall not, if possible, realise the horrors of war in piir midst. There is another as>pest of th# matter that appeals to me, and 1 hope it may also appeal to you. {Do we not ow» it to the Motherland, to England—-that England that down the long centuries has been fighting for freedom for her people, for you and me, and for all wherever her flag flies, and to-day, still in the cause of freedom, stands with he? back to the wall fighting grimly, determinedly, as is her wont in a life and death struggle? Do we not owe it to the Motherland that 'We shall stand by her. side and see it through? This is net the time to consider in terms of hard, cold cash what we shall gain or what we shall lose. It is a time for sacrifice, love of country, and patriotism to lead the way. Come weal or woe we must stand by the Motherland. (I<oud cheers.) Tho Vsn. Archdeacon Evans said ho had been asked by the Mayor to second the resolution, and he had very much pleasure in doing so, because he felt, and knew all his hearers felt, that a premature peace would be the greatest disaster that could happen to the Empire. The war must continue until discredit was brought upon Germany, not only on Germany's aims and methods of warfare but on tho cruel monster which tho German children were taught to worship as their god. The people of our Empire wished to think that after this 'War no Woodier or more awful conflict could ever take place in tho future. Then came the question of reparation to tho nation* that had suffered; Belgium. France, Serbia and Roumania must be reinstated. The only way to attain that object and to conquer the enemy was to keep on fighting—that was all. (Applause.) Another reason for the determined continuation of the war was that those who had died for us should not have died in rain. He bad read a statement by a high official to tho effect that the Gallipoli Bghting had been a shame and a disBTuce, but this was absolutely untrue. Russia had been sorely pressed by the Turks, and had asked that some demonitration should be made in har favor, [jord Kitchener had replied that it <would be done, and tho Gallipoli fighting followed. The campaign enabled Russia to jress forward, the tension was released, ;housanda of Armenians saved, and a arge toll of death levied on the Turks. Every drop of blood shed by our brave )oys of Gallipoli'would be of 4s great ,-alue, if tho war continued to a glorious ! jnd, as every drop shed during the great 'etreat from Mons, on the Somme, or n any of the other great conflicts whero British arms had been crowned with rlory. But if the war was not coninued, all that blood would have been ;hed in vain. That was one of the ;hings a premature peace would mean, ind that was why he seconded the evolution. As the gallant commander >f the little Revenge, after that vessel's onflict with seven of the enemy, <uid in lis dying breath, had said; "Fight on! on! Fight on!" Yes, fight on ill Britain ar.d her Allies had conquered >nd secured for the world a glorious and . lasting peace. (Cheers.) After Cr. W. A. Collie had spoken iricfly in support of the motion it wan >ut and carried by enthusiastic acelajnaion. Cheers for the King and Queen, our boys at the front, the Citizens' (Band, and the Mayor and Mayoress, followed by the National Anthem, closed the proceedings.

KsSolution was catriod. Ht Giristeliurch cheers were given for Admiral Beatty and Sir Douglas Haig. At Hokitflca a motion was carried expressing the opinion that the time had arrived when, by authority of Parliament, there should be set apart a day of national prayer.

THE PREMIER'S REMARKS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The meeting held at the Town Hall k»i nifbt to mirk the third anniversary sf tUe declaration of war wag attended by about 8000. The Mayor presided and moved the resolution.

The Prime Minister, after referring to the wonderful growth of the British army until it reached over Bix millions, and paying a tribute to the Navy, said that we must be prepared for sacrifices perhaps greater than we had yet made, still we must not break faith with the men who had died for us. He read the following message lie had sent to the national patriotic organisation meeting in London:

"Three years of war, with all their saddening experiences, have only strengthened the determination of the people of New Zealand to continue struggl# which, in defence of civiliaatiqn, we haye been compelled to Wtflr. It is in this spirit New Zealand enter} vpon the fourth year of war. On behalf of its people I desirs again to assure our kinsmen overseas that, God helping us, wo shall not be found wanting in sacrifice, end that we are firspared to face cheerfully the trials tk# year may have in store, confident in the justice of the causo which wa have espoused, and convinced that victory must come to those who are battling in the cause of righteousness and humanity.'' Messrs Herries, Russell R. A, Wright and Luclsi# alio addressed the gathering, the resojiitian being then carried.