DOMINION'S PART.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1917, Page 5

DOMINION'S PART.

MESSAGES TO THE TROOPS. 'flip following message has been. scut to tlie New Zealand troops at the front tiy the Prime Minister: Another Christmas comes round anil finds the British Empire still fighting with inflexible determination against the foes of liberty and civilisation. To the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the Xew Zealand Expeditionary Force I send on behalf of the citizens of the Dominion our heartiest greetings and gSod wishes, and again assure them that our hearts and thoughts are with them wherever their duty calls them. Wo rejoice with them in their successes and mourn with tihem in tneir losses. Although the end .of the war is not yet in sight, we look with a just pride on the great deeds that have 'been done by our soldiers on the battlefield, and from these we take courage for the future,, looking forward with calm confidence to tho victory which must come KiS ore! , (Sd.) W. F. MA3SEY, Prime Minister. Sir Joseph Ward cabled to the overseas trtfops as follows: "■New Zealand is justly proud of the achievements of her gallant sons. You boys, who are thousands of miles away from home, and loved ones, have, upheld the best, traditions of your race, as a fighting force. You have proved yourselves equal to the best soldiers in the world. Your achievements at Gallipoli, on the Somme, in tho Holy Land, and in other theatres of this great war will stand out in historv us the record of "bold and fearless men who have, been reared in a free and democratic country. "New -Zealand mourns, the loss of those who have gone down in thi.; i-'reat fight fori civilisation, but 1 am sure you all feel, as I do, tfmt it. were better to die upon a foreign strand than come under the yoke of au inhuman and unseruplous foe. ' ; "'Good luck to von all! May your (. hristmas he ag bright as eirenmntnnces permit, and may tin) N"ew Year be the dawn of a better day for the whole world. Let us hope that in 1018 the jov bells will ring out, for a lasting peace with honor, and that the death knell will sound over Tho corpse of Prussian militarism. • "J. 0. WARD."