ANZAC DAY AT KATIKATI

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume 49, Issue 7678, 26 April 1921, Page 6

ANZAC DAY AT KATIKATI

MEMORIAL GATES OPENED

Anzac Day was very fittingly and impressively observed at Katikati by the opening of the Memorial Gates, which have been erected there at the entrance to the Domain. The ceremony was performed at ‘2,30 p.m. by Mr. C. E, Macmillan, in the presence of from three to four hundred people, including many visitors from Tauranga and Waihi.

The proceedings were opened by a short appropriate prayer by the Rev. Mr, Tucker of Waihi.

Mr. Kenneth Morton, who presided, in a brief opening address, said that the district had sent away to the war every available man, several of whom had lost their lives, and the gathering that day was to unveil the monument erected to their memory. The boys who had fallen, and in fact all who went away, were boys that every country could lie proud of. The monument had been erected in affectionate memory of them. He apologised for the absence of Mr. Hides, who had been chairman of the committee and had done much good work in connection with the memorial.

A selection was then played by the band, and Mr. Morton then called upon Mr. Macmillan to formally open the gates. Mr. Macmillan said he could not hut feel it a very great honour to have been asked to perform the ceremony. It was appropriate that the opening of the gates should take place on Anzac Day, which would go down in the history of New Zealand as the day on which our young men —without exception volunteers entered into and struck the first blow iu world politics, and in defence of those ideals, principles and privileges which are the pride of the British race. They were the same ideals as our forefathers fought for. It was on that day in 1915, at that famous landing place at Gallipoli, that the first blood of our young men was shed, and the manner in which they fought must forever throw lustre on the people of New Zealand and the Empire. He had as a boy wondered w r hy, in the church seivice, it was ever necessary to offer up such a petition as “Give Peace in Our Time, 0 Lord.” It was impossible to then believe that such things as war could exist. We thong t that the might of the British nation would police the world and maintain order We now unfortunately realised that that petition was very necessary. He felt therefore that on such an occasion it was the duty of anyone addressing the people to urge everyone to so conduct their a - fairs that peace would for all tune be insured. He felt that all would agree that it was in the hands of the people of the British speaking nations of the world to ensure that peace but if war did come again, (hat it would be conducted on humanitarian lines and that such things as occurred in the late war did not occur again. The destiny of the nation was in our hands during our lives, and afterwards in the hands of our children, and small though a community might be it still could do a great deal of good, as had been proved by the fact that so many men from that district had laid down their lives in the service of their country, and the gathering that day was to unveil a memorial io them. We should render such service to humanity that in future it would not he necessary for our sons to give their lives in the manner that those brave boys had done during the late war. He would like to point out that the memorial, although commonly called a war memorial, was not to commemorate the fact that there had been a war, but should be looked upon as a memorial of service rendered —the service that these men had rendered to their nation and to mankind. We did not glory in the fact that we went to war, and the memorial had not been erected for that reason, but as tbe chairman had appropriately put it, as a mark of affection and in perpetual memory of those who served in it, and when the people pass in and out of those gates to enjoy themselves on the Domain, it would be with the feeling that had it not been for the services rendered by the men whose names appeared on tbe tablet it would not now be possible to enjoy ourselves, perfectly free and no one daring to make us afraid.

Mr. Macmillan then unveiled the tablet* in the main pillars of the gates, while a party of returned soldiers, under Mr. G. Dunton, stood to attention. Mr. Macmillan called upon Mrs. Hunter (as the oldest surviving member of the Vesey Stewart. settlers, still resident in the district), to cut the ribbon across the gates. This done, the Last Post was sounded by Mr. Geo. Henry, and so ended a very impressive ceremony.

Addresses by Mr. Donaldson, (Mayor of Waihi), the Rev. Mr. Tucker of Waihi, and the reading of a portion of the 85th Psalm by Mr. Baines followed, and after Mr. Tucker had pronounced the Benediction, the National Anthem was sung. The gates were then opened and the returned soldiers first marched through into the Domain, followed by the people. Afternoon tea was then served. The gates are a very handsome piece of work, tbe cost being approximately £l5O. They were erected under the supervision of Mr. W. J. Gray, and are a striking testimony to the fact that the residents of