HOPES OF PEACE

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24446, 21 December 1944, Page 4

HOPES OF PEACE

* MAYOR’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

NO RELAXATION OP WAR EFFORT

"Christmas comes but once a year, but the years pass very quickly. These years of the greatest conflict the world has ever known are momentous and fraught with tremendous difficulties and problems,” said the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr E. H. Andrews) in a Christmas message yesterday. “But we people of the British Empire still believe that a beneficent providence is guiding us, that victory is in the offing, and that though.it may be delayed by storms and buffeted by adverse winds and tides, it will soon reach port, and anchor in peaceful waters. “We in this country have much to be thankful for. On a previous occasion I designated it a ‘thrice blessed country.’ To-day we might call* it a country of manifold blessings. We have been spared the horrors of invasion by our enemies. We have never really been short of food or the necessaries and even the comforts of life. On the debit side, we place the loss of many of our best sons. But we know that their sacrifice was not in vain. They saved us and are saving us from annihilation. This surely must be a consolation to their relations and friends.

“And so through the efforts of the sons of our Empire and its Allies, we see the dawn of peace, but the dawn comes slowly, and we must keep awake to greet it. We dare not relax, but must continue our work and sacrifice. We dare not allow complacency to dulb our keenness. “I would thank the Christchurch people for all they have done, their noble and self-sacrificing efforts for the patriotic funds, their efforts for the pleasure and profit of the children, their co-operation in the relief of distress, and their, general support for the advancement of the. city.

“In these sentiments the Mayoress associates herself with me, and particularly she desires to thank the women of the city who have so loyally supported her and rallied to her call to help. “We pray that God’s contipued blessing may rest upon our beloved city and country, and we wish everyone, man, woman, and child, a merry Christmas and very happy New Year. May prosperity attend the citizens, and may the New Year see us all joining together in celebrating peace for this stricken world.”