FRANCE'S NATIONAL DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 July 1918, Page 5

FRANCE'S NATIONAL DAY.

STRIKING TRIBUTES. ~_ NEW ZEALAND WILL SEE IT THROUGH. . STATEMENT BY AOTMG-iPREMIEB. Wellington, Laßt Night. A public meeting was held in the Town Hall to-night in celebration of France's national fete day. The Mayor moved"The citizens of Wellington, in meeting assembled, desire, upon this national festival of our glorious Ally, to record our deep sense of the immeasurable sacrifice made by the French people in withstand- | in" the greatest menaco to its liberty that ever threatened civilisation; our admiration for the matchless valor of | her armies and the irresistible detcnnin»tion of her civil population, •which shows no sign of faltering after four years of the bloodiest war in history, and our profound conviction of the ultimate buc- ■ cess in which the armies of the Allies will be crowned with the glorious and imperishable victory, for ever removing the danger of free democracies from being crushed by Prussian militarism." Sir James Allen alluded to the published reports of some remarks by the High Commissioner in London that our taan-power was diminishing, and hinting at the possibility of the Americans taking the place of the New Zealanders. We entered the campaign with the intention of seeeing it through, and he believed the people of New Zealand were determined to do so. He believed the men at the front wished to stay it out to the end, and they intended playing their part to the end. There was a great strain upon our man-power and resources, but we, like other nations, our Allies, were prepared to meet that strain, and do and give all we could in this fight for freedom. We wde glad to see the Americans coming in. We hoped they would come in such numbers that victory would be certain so far as she. was concerned. He considered himself aibsolutely pledged to keep the New Zealand division up to strength as long as we had the man.-power to do it. Here in New Zealand we wished to remove everything that might be offensive tq the French people. In Christchurch there were some German bells in a church made of metal from material taken by the Germans from the French in the campaign of some years ago. Those bells were to be taken down, and unless the French Consul wished them devoted to some other purpose, the bell 9 would be melted "down. At the beginning of the war the United Kingdom was | not ready. It took a long time to prepare our Army for final victory- The French people united their bonds immediately, and went into the fray and saved Europe. Colossal events had taken place since then, and 'one stood out with historic interest—the battle of the Marne. At that battle the British soldiers were few, but the blow struck—and struck very largely by the French armips—-caused the enemy to stagger and fall back. None could tell when the end would come, but we could take comfort from the fact that the spirit of the ! French, who had struck at the Marne, [ was the spirit of the French people of today, and with the Allies also. They were all" getting more ready to strike a final J blow, and there could be no doubt what the end would be- | After several other speakers had eulo-,. ! gised the part taken by the French in the war, the motion was carried.