Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1919. PEACE CELEBRATIONS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIX, Issue 9653, 9 July 1919, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1919. PEACE CELEBRATIONS.

Popular sympathy should be with those ladies and gentlemen, in urban and rural districts, who constitute the various committees responsible for the peace celebrations. Their task, never easy, has. been increased by the alterations in the. dates of the proposed rejoicings, and subsequently by the indeterminate attitude of the Cabinet, which first somewhat autocratically fixed Saturday, July 19 alone for the official celebration, but has since agreed to add the succeeding Monday .to the recognised period. Assuming this is final, the peace I'celebration committees should be able to carry out their programmes originally planned, apart from a curtailment of illuminations, the cost of which wil] not be subsidised by the Government. Certain regrets will be felt, perhaps, by some that this portion of the rejoicings will be lacking, but there can be little doubt of the wisdom of the Government's decision, in view of the coal shortage. The Ashburton Peace Celebrations executive will meet, this eveuing, and we trust that a courageous policy will be advocated. There has been a tendency to deprecate vigorous demonstrations, recently, but the reason for this timidity is not apparent. Better to have n,o celebration at all than a shameclface sort of an affair. The temptation to desert their own town for Christchurch will prove too strong for some Ashburtonians, whatever the local programme consists of, but these deserters should not have their number increased through absence of coun-ter-attractions here. When what is being celebrated is considered, its enormous importance, its uniqueness, and its gigantic nature generally, the duty of making the demonstrations as effective as possible appears clear. Ashburton cannot hope to vie with Christchurch, but it should act worthy of Canterbury's third largest town. .'We. are not, of course, suggesting that the members of the Borough's celebrations executive are going to wax faint; w;e ..simply remind them that a bold policy will add to the community's indebtedness to them. A mild celebration here when the rest of the Dominion tow.nsr are striving to rise to the occasion- would be deplorable, especially if a main purpose of the demonstration is to impress the juvenile mind. Children, including many of, those "of larger growth," understand shouting and -. tumult, flag-wav-ing* and fireworks, whilst economy and reserve will leave them cold. The soldiers themselves do not, perhaps, ask great things, but the celebrations form part of the national thanks to those who helped to make a victorious peace possible, and should be modelled accordingly. We await with interest the result of this evening's deliberations, and hope that these will end in favour of a three days' festival, including processions and -, feastings; on Saturday, special services on Sunday, and a really comprehensive "Children's Day" on the Monday.