PICTURES ON ANZAC DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 31, 6 February 1936, Page 12

PICTURES ON ANZAC DAY

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —After reading that the Dunedin City Council had decided to grant permission for the screening of pictures after 8.15 p.m. on Anzac Day this year, I am surprised that nobody in Wellington has yet suggested that similar permission be granted here: I suggest that a plebiscite be arranged in some way to secure an opinion on the matter from the great mass of returned soldiers as well as from the public at large. lam sure that the result would be very different from what a few think.

When General Sir George Richardson protested in Auckland against the Dunedin decision, he said that he spoke for all returned soldiers. Judging from the comments made to me by several returned men, that statement is very much open to question, and the best way to find out would be to take a vote on the subject. After a.l, is the move mad,e in< Dunedin so revolutionary or terrible? AH that is going to happen is that the theatres will be allowed to open at 8.15 o'clock in the evening, a move that will not interfere in the least with the holding of the usual Anzac Day parades, ceremonies, and special services. To thousands of people, Anzac Day is still a day of mourning and remembrance and one can respect their attitude; but to thousands more (and their number increases every year) it has been for a long time past just another holiday, and in Sydney, which has just as much cause to remember Anzac Day as Wellington, it is already the custom, I understand, to open the theatres in the afternoon and evening. This year the day falls on Saturday, which means that we shall be having two Sundays one after the other, since the Anzac Day Act says that Anzac Day shall be observed throughout New Zealand in all respects as if it were a Sunday. The best way out of the whole difficulty would be to start observing Anzac Day on the nearest Sunday.

It is opportune to raise the question now, in view of his Majesty King Edward VHl's express wish that the funeral of the late King should be marked, not by the closing of all shops and places of business and amusement throughout the day, but simply by two minutes of silence. And who can deny that that method of solemn observance was the more effective? Why should New Zealand not observe two minutes' silence on April 25 each year, holding the usual Anzac Day military parades, ceremonies, and services—if they are still considered necessary—on the nearest Sunday?—l am, etc.,

COMMON SENSE.