MOTHERS' WREATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 288, 5 December 1929, Page 8

MOTHERS' WREATH.

PLACED IN ST. MARY'S. TRIBUTE TO UNKNOWN WARRIOR. BLESSED BY ARCHBISHOP. The Auckland Diocesan Mothers' tribute to the EmpTre's honoured dead was placed on St. Mary's Cathedral memorial, yesterday afternoon, and will remain there as its last resting place. It was a wreath sent to England to be placed on the Unknown Warrior's Tomb in Westminster, and brought back to Auckland Iby special arrangement Before being placed on the cathedral memorial it was blessed by the Archbishop. Members of the Mothers' Union and next-of-kin were present in the cathedral. Archbishop Averill was assisted by Canon W. Fancourt, Canon C. H. Grant Co wen, the Rev. R. G. Coats, and the Rev. Carl Tanner. The wreath was borne down the aisle of the cathedral by Captain A. C. A. Sexton (president), and Captain;E. H. Sharp (secretary), of the Returned Soldiers' Association, while the Anzac hymn, "Father, King Immortal" was being sung. Archbishop Averill blessed the wreath with the words: "Bless, we pray thee, Almighty God, this mothers' tribute to the devotion and sacrifice of mothers' sons who laid down their lives for righteousness and peace in the Great War. May it be an inspiration to mothers and sons to stand for the things which really matter in life and to accept sacrifice and suffering as the price of victory. Grant to the faithful dead eternal rest and peace, and may the sacrifices made in the war contribute to a true and lasting peace and the dawn of a better world. Comfort the hearts ol all mothers and may they look forward to a time when sorrow shall turn to joy." In an address the Archbishop said: "The sacrifices that you mothers make all your life for your children cannot be in vain, and some day those children who have caused you such anxiety will rise up and call you blessed. You can never know what comfort the thought of 'mother' must have been to those men when they passed through the valley of the shadow of death." At the conclusion of the service a collection was taken, and £5 was contributed from it towards the Roll of Honour fund of the War Memorial Museum.