ARMISTICE DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 November 1919, Page 5

ARMISTICE DAY.

CEREMONY NEXT TUESDAY. TWO MINUTES OF SILENCE, A MESSAGE FROM THE KING. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The following message from the King has been received by 'the GovernorGeneral:— To All My People:— "Tuesday next, November 11, is the first anniversary of the armistice which stayed the world-wide carnage of the four preceding years, and marked the victory of right and freedom. I believe my people in every part of the Empire fervently wish to .perpetuate the memory of that great deliverance and of those who laid down their lives to achieve it. "To afford an opportunity for the universal expression of this feeling, it is my desire and hope that at the hour when the armistice came into force—the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month —there may be, for the brief space of two minutes, a comptete suspension of all our normal activities during that time, except in rare cases where this may bo impracticable. "All work, all sound, and all locomotion should cease, so that in perfect stillness the thought of everyone may be concentrated on the reverent remembrance of the glorious dead. No elaborate organisation appears to be necesasry. At a given signal, which can easily be arranged to suit the circumstances of each locality, I believe we shall gladly interrupt pur business and pleasure, whatever it may be, and unite in this simple service of silence and remembrance. (Signed), GEORGE, R.L" The Prime Minister stated this evening that arrangements would be put in hand to secure, as far as possible, the general observance throughout the Dominion of a two minutes' silence on Tuesday next. Trains would he stopped on. the railways, a request would be made that there should be a cessation of traffic on the streets, and every effort; would be made to have work suspended in schools, shops, and factories, and to secure complete silence. This procedure would conform with what was intended to be done in the United Kingdom, and the Prime Minister said he was quite sure there would be a ready acquiescence in the desire of His Majesty on the part of the citizens of New Zealand as well as in other parts of the Empire.