CITIZENS' SERVICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 97, 26 April 1930, Page 10

CITIZENS' SERVICE.

TOWN HALL THRONGED.

LESSONS OF ANZAC.

PRESERVATION OF THE DAY. The citizens' commemorative service in the Town Hall yesterday morning was attended in the usual large numbers, despite the fact that the procession of returned soldiers which preceded it on all former Anzac Days was not a feature of the morning, being reserved for the Cenotaph ceremonies in the afternoon. Returned soldiers and their wives had reserved seats on the ground floor and .next-of-kin of the fallen were accommodated in the gallery. The great hall was fittingly decorated in greenery, with the word "Anzac" in laurel leaves along the, front of the organ. Wreaths of laurel hung at intervals along the front of the gallery. The hymns were, as ever, wholeheartedly sung by the great congregation, it being evident that many derive much comfort from the words of such well-known compositions as "O God Our Help in Ages Past." On the platform were a number of representative people, among them being Commander N. Clover, representing the Royal Navy; Brigadier H. R. Potter, Officer Commanding the Northern Command; Major-General Sir George Richardson; Mr. A. C. A. Sexton, president of the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association; foreign Consuls and members of the City Council. The Mayor (Mr. GeorgS Baildon) presided, and with him was the Mayoress (Mrs. A. D. Campbell). The service opened with the National Anthem, played bp Mr. J. Maughan Barnett on the organ, while the singing was led by the Municipal Choir. After "O God Our Help in Ages Past," the Rev. W. W. Averill, vicar of All Saints', recited a few short prayers. The lesson, read by the Mayor, was- the familiar passage from the Apocrypha, "'Let us now praise famous men." . Passing of the Years. Two addresses were given, the first speaker being the Rev. G. Budd, Moderator of the New Zealand Presbyterian 'Assembly, who remarked on the swift passing of fifteen years since the first Anzac Day. It seemed scarcely credible, he said, that one-third of the population of the Dominion were too oung to have any memory of that great and historic event. Until the memorable Sunday morning in 1915, when the New Zealand troops landed on the beach at Gallipoli under a devastating fire from the Turkish lines, many had felt that the younger generation of the Dominion were not as their pioneering forefathers had been. It was feared that the milder climate of New Zealand had exercised an enervating effect and left them unfitted for the sterner tasks of life. That such was not the case was demonstrated emphatically by the men of Anzac, and by those who, with a full knowledge of the long and bitter struggle ahead, enlisted after them. They had shown by their splendid gallantry that the people of these southern isles were of the stuff of which heroes were made. Mr. Budd said the spirit of peace was abroad among the nations, of the world, for in each successive conference and pact the departed seemed to live again. British people were now shaping themselves towards the ideal for which their men had died.

"An Invisible Monument." The preservation of Anzac Day as an invisible monument to the fallen was urged by the Rev. Dr. J. J. North. The day was a memorial far more precious than pillars and sculptured stones. Man had never conceived any finer commemoration than Anzac Day and the silence on Armistice Day. In memory of the men who formed a living wall, never pierced by the foe, Anzac Day must ever be kept clean and sacred. All joined In singing the "Anzac Anthem* and the "Dead March" was played. Then, contrasting sharply with the motirnful funeral tune, there rang out the gloriously high, clear trumpet notes of •'The Last Post" and "Reveille." The service closed when Archdeacon Mac Murray pronounced the Benediction.