ANZAC DAY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 April 1939, Page 5

ANZAC DAY

OBSERVANCE IN NEW ZEALAND WELLINGTON SERVICE. MESSAGE FROM KING AND QUEEN (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. Anzac Day was celebrated throughout New Zealand yesterday with appropriate services, and in many cases the parade of returned soldiers was the largest on record for such an occasion. In Wellington the attendance of the public was the largest at an Anzac Day service for some years past. Nearly 2000 returned soldiers, besides units of the regular forces and college cadets, marched though the streets in procession and "paraded at the War Memorial, the steps and plinth of which were stacked with floral • wreaths. Many thousands of people assembled in the grounds of Parliament House, and within earshot of the shrine. Representatives of the Government and public bodies laid wreaths. A short but impressive service was conducted by Archdeacon W. Bullock, chaplain to the forces, who dedicated the memorial reliquary casket placed in the the shrine, and delivered a memorable address.

The following message was received by the Governor-Genieral from His Majesty the King on the occasion of the observance of Anzac Day:— The Queen.and I are proud to join with our people in New Zealand in observing this day of remembrance. —GEORGE R.l. His Excellency the Governor-Gener-al has’ sent the following reply to the King:— Your Majesty’s gracious message has been communicated to the people of New Zealand, who deeply appreciate the association of Your Majesty and the Queen in their observance of this day of immortal memory. On their behalf I beg to tender grateful thanks to Your Majesty and a renewed assurance of abiding loyalty. —GALWAY. OBSERVANCE IN LONDON. (Independent Cable service.) LONDON, April 25. The Anzac Day service in London at the Church of St Clement Danes was conducted by the Dean of Dunedin, Dr Cruickshank. The lessons were read by ;Mr Jordan, New Zealand High Commissioner in London, who later placed a wreath on the Cenotaph.

MASTERTON CEREMONY AT THE PARK. ADDRESS BY REV E. J. RICH. Hundreds bared their heads, in ceremony at the War Memorial in the Masterton Park, when the usual floral tributes were laid at the base of the monument. It was a brief, simple, but impressive commemoration. A record parade of Returned Soldiers, Territorials, Mounted Rifles, College Cadets, Legion of Frontiersmen, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides marched to the Park, with the Wairarapa College Pipe Band and the Municipal Band providing the music. Representatives of local bodies and others had places around the foot of the Memorial and there was a very large attendance of the general public. There were 290 returned soldiers on parade, the largest number ever, recorded for an Anzac Day service. Following Prayer -and Scripture reading, the Rev E. J. Rich, who was the speaker for the day, said that Anzac Day came to us this year with a twofold message. This day for us must ever be a great day of memories, when our minds went racing back through the years .that were gone and we remembered not only the glorious exploits of the men at Gallipoli, but all that was symbolic in that adventure. “So,” he said, “think today of the men and the women, too, who heard the challenge to serve what they believed was the cause of righteousness and of honour and went out ready to give all, even life itself, to preserve something that they believed was essential to the human well-being for the generations yet unborn. On many a field they served, men like ourselves, our own flesh and blood, drawn from every city, town, hamlet, and family in the land, and from every land and corner of the vast Empire. This day must be first of all devoted to them, a symbol of their memory which shall never die, a reminder of something more precious than life itself. “SALT OF THE EARTH.” “For many of us,” Mr Rich continued, “comes a quiet moment when the busy world around us loses its grip and we see again scarred fields and other things of which we do not speak and in memory reach out again to feel and know fellowship with men who were the very salt of the earth.” It was good, he said, to have this sacred day, and he was just a voice echoing the thought of many hearts, paying tribute to the memory of the men they had learned to know, men who dared the impossible, men who proved that the spirit that made the Empire great still lived in this and every corner of our glorious heritage. This day must ever be for us one of humble pride and triumpn. It spoke to us of great ideals. It told of how this country we loved had earned, by blood and sacrifice, the right to be enrolled among the nations. It reminded us at this critical and dark moment in human history, when much for which cur comrades fought and died was threatened, and in many lands was already lost, that there were greater things in life than the merely material. CHALLENGE TO FREEDOM Today could be ■ witnessed a philosophy of life, ruthless in its methods, intolerant, seeking by force to enslave mankind,' And in our observance of this day there was a reminder of a spirit that no adversity could crush—a reminder that in our race there was a spirit that would rather perish than see our lands enslaved. This day told tales of endurance and of heioism unparallelled almost in the history of mankind, of men who gave themselves in the full vigour of manhood to build a better tomorrow. Anzac Day spoke of exploits of glory and heroism of days gone by. It told of the co-opera-tion of a great band of free people, ready for any challenge, seeking nothing for themselves, but giving everything for the good of all. Today, the returned men lived again the memory of a day which could never die. Today, they heard again in memory the glad and cheery sound of voices which had long been stilled, ,and felt again the warm, firm grip of a vanished hand. For those who remained, it was an essential thing to remember and to pay tribute to the memory of that gallant band. He believed that the future of our race was safe. He believed that the young men and women of today

were no whit behind the men remembered that day, and that they had in them the spirit, which found expression in the worlds of Earl Baldwin a few years ago: “England stands and will fight to the last for the liberty of human spirit.” Men were realising the ideals for which Anzac Day stood and were also realising that those ideals, which had always been our glorious heritage, were being endangered. Things were happening which are not worthy of the memory which fiilled our hearts today. It seemed to him at this great moment, when the whole future of civilisation hung in the balance, that the men of Anzac were very near. When the crisis came the people of our race would ever be true, equal to any challenge. They would trust in God and take up and pursue the struggle for honour, for truth and for liberty. "Those who have gone before,” said Mr Rich, "men whose bodies lie scattered in every corner of the globe, their spirits can never die and they speak to us as another year goes by. “ ‘To you with,failing hands we fling the torch. Be yours to hold it high.’ ” The music for the hymns was played by the Masterton Municipal Band, After the parade the returned men and others were entertained by the Liverpool Ladies’ Committee and others at the Soldiers’ Club. The committee wishes to thank all who made donations. The Association wishes to thank Misses J. Prentice, N. McLaren and H. McGillivray for selling poppies at the park. The sales totalled £6 10s. (Continued on page 6.)