IMPERIAL VETERANS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14055, 29 May 1911, Page 8

IMPERIAL VETERANS.

MEMORIAL PARADE IN VICTORIA

SQUARE,

AN IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY

Tho annual Memorial and Peace Day J parade of the J mperial Veterans' Asso- j ciation in honour of thoso officers and j men who lost their lives in tho late Boer war, and to commemorate June Ist ("Peace Day) was held in Victoria square yesterday afternoon, tbe ceremony proving most impressive. Th.c service was conducted by tho Rev. Frank Dunnage, and among the Territorial officers present were Colonels Slater and W. A. Day, Major Richardson, Captains F. C. B. Bishop, A. E. Loach, .Stephens, D. Mcßean Stewart, T. H. Overton. There were about 120 veterans on parade under Lieutenant T. Emmerson and Staff Sergeant-Major Salt. Commandant J. Cook represented the Legion of Frontiersmen. Tho Garrison Band was in attendance, under Lieutenant A. J. Merton. Tliere was a very large attendance "of the public. •After the hymns "O Gc<7, Our Help In Ages Past" and "Lead Kindly Li-ill." had been sung, Colonel Slater addressed the gathering. He said that it was well that year by year the men should attend a memorial parade to bring to mind the days of tho past and tho memory of their departed comrades. They regretted the fate of their comrades, but they had the satisfaction of knowing that they had done the noblest thing a man could do—they had laid down tbeir lives for their country. From the signs of the times he believed tho day was not very far distant when the Empire would be fighting for its existence, and when the day came—-if it came in their time—he had no doubt they would be ready to take their share in the defence of their country. * When Colonel Slater had finished his remarks a number of wreaths were placed on tho railing round the Queen Victoria statue by members of the Now Zealand contingents,, the band playing appropriate selections in the meantime. . The Mayor, who was tho next speaker. Raid he bad lived for many years in an atmosphere of strife and conflict, but he had never had anything but admiration for the men who had been willing to leave their homes, sacrifico their material interest and carry their lives in their hands in tlio interests of the country to which thoy belonged. He did not think thero had been a war on iecord in connection with which there had not been a difference of opinion. Unlike Colonel Slater, he was of opinion that instead of tbe future holding in storo international conflict, which would bring ruin and disaster, the spirit of international peace was growing so rapidly that they were more justified in looking for a cessation of war than tho continuation of it. (Hear, hear and applause.) In tho universal spread of education and in the tremendous power over men's thoughts and habits that the printing press of the world was exercising, ho thought there wero grounds for tho belief that peace and not war was to prevail. He believed that international law and not international war was croing to bo the great monument reared in the future. Mr Taylor instanced President Taft's message, which he said had done more to encourago the desire for peace than anything that had taken place for the last half century. Continuing, the Mayor stated that in any words ho had uttered as a public man ho had not deprecated any man taking his share in the defence of his country. He believed that every man who was a citizen should be willing to render such defence to the country as his citizenship entailed. The time was coming when every man would be able to demand a living in the country in the defence of which he gavo his services, At the present timo £300,000,000 were being spent by civilised people for army ana navy purposes, and in Great Britain, alone there wore twelve million people on thc wrong side of the poverty line. It was of the utmost importance that they should remember the groat social problems and protest against unnecessary waste of. money on any system—whether it be defence or any other system. He had nothing but the most reverential regard for tho men who had mustered that afternoon, and he made the statement with absolute honesty. Ho would, however, emphasise the fact that wlxle tho country was doing its duty in trying to bring into existence a defence system * commensurate with the interests that it had to protect, it would "be a crime to allow the defence system to grow beyond actual reouirements, to the detriment of the solution of social problems. . -Tlio Rev. F. Dunnage, in the course of his. address, touched on the growth of tho Imperial, spirit. He said that God had moulded nn Empire on Imperial lines, and it was our sacred duty to carry out the work entrusted to us. The ceremony concluded with the playing of "God Save tho King," after which the troops marched back to th© .King Edward Barracks, where they were dismissed.