TO OUR SOLDIERS OVERSEAS

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 98, 25 April 1917, Page 8

TO OUR SOLDIERS OVERSEAS

Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence and Acting-Prime Minister, has issued the following Anzac Day message to. .the High Commissioner to be communicated to the soldiers iri hospital, to General Godley, to be communicated to the '. troops in France, and to the Officer CcWmanding in Egypt to be conveyed to] the New Zealand droops with the army operating in Pales- ' tine. The message reads :— "To-day is the second anniversary of the historic landing on Gallipoli, which will go down in history as one of the finest feats of daring in which British soldiers have been engaged. We are proud to think that our New Zealand troops emerged from this' ordeal provedl and fit to rank amongst the bravest defenders of the Empire. "Since then much blood has been shed and many homes havo been made desolate, but it has not been in vain. We stand to-day a united people, part of a united Empire, stronger than ever, but chastened by the sacrifices that have been forced upon us. Our troops are still fighting in the ' far-flung line,' and they will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder -With England and our Allies till "an honourable and lasting peace has been secured.

"Let us trust that the next time we celebrate Anzac Day it will be in peace, and that our soldiers will have returned to us. Let us also hope that when the clouds of war have rolled away its lessons will not be forgotten, and that we shall all realise that if a country is to be , free its .citizens must not only' be prepared to die ■ for it in time of war, but to live for it in time of peace."