THE FIVE THOUSAND

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 87, 11 October 1915, Page 3

THE FIVE THOUSAND

A GREAT MARCH PAST REALISING WHAT THE WAR MEANS. /The march of 5000 armed men through the city on Saturday furnished Wellington with a spectacle it has never seen before. The noise of 10,000 boots striking the road was in itself impressive — tramp, vamp, tramp, as over a mile of soldiers passed on their way. These men marched with all the swing and erect carriage of regulars, but they were made only a few months ago out of absolutely raw material, with here and there exceptions, odd men who had seen service in South Africa, or had been in the army or navy. They had not the spick and span appearance of troops at a Itoyal and ceremonial parade ; there was no pipe-clay and scarlet; but their appearance was essentially workmanlike. All looked as if they meant business, and for the business of war they have been trained. Whatever the nature of their training, it had made them all brown as Maoris. Indeed, it was difficult to tell was Maori and which pakeha at first glance as the long procession marched by. Clean-shaven faces were general, closecropped polls the rule. So the five thousand marched through the city, between packed crowds on the pavements, crowds perching on balconies and verandahs, crowds filling up shop windows. "You people don't realise that there is a war going on, that it is your war as much as England's war!" This was the common and not unjust reproach made against ns by people returning from Europe some eignt or nine months ago. We know now. Everybody realised as the five thousand marched past on Saturday that New Zealand was "in for it," no less than Britain or France, Russia or Servia. The only difference was the venue. The British Empire is being tried for its life in Europe. There sits the jury of the nations — not here. But the effect of the verdict will reach us even here, full 13,000 miles away. Certainly New Zealand now fully realises that the people of the British Empire, India included, are all at war, and it is to be a fight to a finish. In five thousand faces, as the men marched by on Saturday, that grim fact was written; in the faces of the onlookers at the spectacle, as such, there was also more than a glimmer of understanding of what it all meant. Moreover, our casualty lists have awakened us to the fact that we took quite a little time to grasp (before the lists came in) that New Zealand is really at war. How did it find us on Saturday as the troops marched by? As the men themselves were: resolute and unafraid. In not one' of those five thousand suntanned faces of the marching men was to be seen the slightest trace of fear or anxiety. Some were all smiles. " Hullo, Alf ! " would bring a cheery backward glance. " Step it out, Bob ! " would ruffle firm, set features. But generally the faces of the men were turned neither to left nor right ; for they at any rate realised that it was their war. Not one of them was compelled to taka up arms, to throw up a possibl^ 4 good billet, to halt on the very threshold of a prosperous business or professional career, to sacrifice a forty-four-hour week, decent working conditions, and all the pleasures and accompaniments of a life of industry and peace. And all for what? To do their duty by their King and country. Hard training in camp they had undergone, and with what the future holds in store for them they are well acquainted. Still they came forward, five thousand of them — and more are yet to come and will continue to come. That was the impression this great maTch conveyed to many who saw the men pass. And then, * what of the crowd? It cheered again and again, and, for once, and it is to be hoped for all time, removed the stigma attaching to a Wellington crowd that it had forgotten how to cheer. It also realised that New Zealand was at war. The hard fact has come home at last. But the - cheers rang out strong and true, all the same. There was not the slightest idea of " mafficking," not a suggestion of a crowd merely out to enjoy a free show with all the zest that a. free show imparts. "Up against it " appeared to be the general conviction, but nowhere the slightest suspicion of downheartedness or gloom because the war has lasted so long, promises to last much longer, and to cost us all, everyone^ so much money in the long run. But, after all, the five thousand is but one-fifth of the men trained and equipped to represent. New Zealand in Europe. There are thousands more who will be wanted — at .the or the Black Sea, the flat lands of Flanders, or broken coast-line of Dalmatia. It is all a matter of time. The men to follow will be as keen, certainly more in earnest, than the men who have gone, now that the truth that we are fighting for our lives is well understood, and it is safe to say that those who remain behind will cheer them again and again as they sing— \ " We don't want to lose you; But we think you ought to go."