RAIN HOLDS OFF

Evening Post, Issue 98, 27 April 1936, Page 14

RAIN HOLDS OFF

WELLINGTON LUCKY

SERVICE AT MEMORIAL

Showers of rain about lunch time made the weather outlook for the main service at the War Memorial anything but' favourable, but \ t conditions improved somewhat and the weather was fine long enough—though there was a keen southerly wind—;td allow of the service being, held without rain. How lucky Wellington was, however, was shown, shortly afterwards when rain commenced to fall steadily. The service was arranged by the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association, with the co-operation of the Women's National Reserve, Education Board, and Headmasters' Association, and was conducted by the Rev. N. F. E. Robertshawe, M.C., M.A., of St. Mark's Church. A large area to the front and sides of. the memorial was roped' off. Within this paraded the returned soldiers, men from the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, Territorials, Cadets, Legion of Frontiersmen, and the bands, of which no less than seven were present. All around v the roped-roff area and on the green ,' bank of Parliament House grounds above Bowen Street was a solid mass of citizens,' and others also looked on at the proceedings from the windows and roofs of neighbouring buildings. The seating accommodation for State and public body, representatives was provided in front of the steps leading up to the The Port Nicholson Silver Band provided ■the music for the] service. GOOD PARADE OF EX-SOLDIERS. Altogether 1138 returned ; men! paraded under Lieutenant-Colonel A. Cowles, V.D., president of the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association, with whom was Captain A. Gorton as adjutant. They assembled at .the Central Fire Station and. marched ;from there via Mercer Street, Willis Street, and L.ambton Quay to the War Memorial. There were representatives in the parade of the South African War veterans (under Captain'J. J. Clark), Royal Navy, A.1.F., "Old Contemptibles," other ex-Imperial units, mounted rifles, artillery, engineers, Auckland infantry, Wellington infantry, Canterbury infantry, Otago infantry, New Zealand Rifle Brigade, Machine Gun Corps, '. Medical Corps, arid the Legion of Frontiersmen (under' the command of Captain T. J. Thomson). The, men of the New Zealand Forces on parade were under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel J. L. Saunders.'D.S.O., V.D., with Major Rowlings, N.Z.S.-C., and Captain Andrew, V.C., N.Z.S.C., as staff officers. MANY FLORAL TRIBUTES. Prior to the commencement of sthe | service floral tributes were. placed on the memorial by representatives of schools and colleges, and they were followed, after an interval, by the bearers of the official wreaths. Among these '. tributes were the following:— From the Government <carried by the Prime Minister, the, Hon. M. J. Savage), New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy (Commodore the Hon. E. R. Drummond and Paymaster-Lieuten-ant-Commander J. K. Highton), General Officer Commanding New Zealand Military Forces, Sir William SinclairBurgess (Colonel F. Symon), Consul for Greece, Wellington City Corporation (the Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop), a big cross of red poppies from Lady Jellicoe in memory of her husband, Lord Jellicoe (Captain L. V. Morgan and the Minister of Defence,.the Hon. F. Jones), from. Sir lan Hamilton (Mr. S. J. Harrison, secretary of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers'. Association), Government of the Commonwealth of Australia (Mr. James Payne), Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association (Lieu-tenant-Colonel A. Cowles), nursing division (Sister Chalmer), South African War Veterans' Association (Captain J. J- Clark), returned naval ratings "Old Contemptibles'" .(Colonel A A Corrigan), Board of Control of the Returned Soldiers' and Sailors' Hostel* Eastbourne branch of the RSA in memory of Major W. J. Hardham, V.C., Wellington-West Coast Mounted Rifles (Mr. J. Spence, secretary of the ■ Wellington R.S.A.), WaiRelief Association '(Messrs. L. O. H. Tripp and F. Bailey), War Funds-Coun-cil (Mr. O. H. Dilner), Women's National Reserve (Mrs, F. T. Beale), St John Ambulance Association (Superintendent W. Whitley), Wellington branch of the Navy League (Mrs. L O H Tripp and Mr. R. Darroch), Red Cross Society, Junior Red Cross, Lesion of Frontiersmen (Captain T. J. Thomson), Wellesley College, Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company (Messrs. Gregory Stroud, R. Shortland, and C. Bealey), Presbytery of Wellington (the Rev. J. R. Blanchard and the Rev. A. B Kilroy), Director-General and staff of the Post and Telegraph Department, Wellington (Lieutenant E. L. Marshall). New Zealanders' Association (Mr. Charles Mclntyre) in memory of Captain H. T. Marshall, M.C., and from the employees of the Wellington Gas Company. ;

Among those seated in front of the steps to the memorial for the service were the Prime Minister (the Hon. M. J. Savage), other Ministers •of the Crown, representatives of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, public bodies, as well as Consuls for various countries.

After the singing of the hymn "Oh, God, Our Help in Ages Past," the Rev. Mr. Robertshawe led toe great gathering in prayer. The Lesson, from Chapter VI of the Ephesians, verses 10 to 18, was read by the Rev. Arthur Muriel, M.C., J3.A. (Congregational Church), and this was followed by the Port Nicholson Band playing "Gaba Tepe," a tribute •to the fallen, composed by Mr. T.'Gray. An address was then given by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Walls; M.C., of the Salvation Army. ■ . THE ADDRESS. Anzac Day, said Lieutenant-Colonel Walls, was a day on which they remembered the dead and also saluted the spirit of the living. They were assembled to commemorate an epic of twenty-one years ago, which in the fierce rays of historical light, and in the moments of calm reflection,. could he viewed as ej heroic effort, on the part of our own kith and kin, to attempt the impossible. Writers told how the impossible was nearly accomplished, but what a train of "ifs" mounted up in doing so. The fact was, and of this we might be justly proud, young men walking as kings, so fitted by Nature, circumstance, and open spaces, clean-limbed and rich in purposeful idealism, pure in motive and buoyed. by enthusiasm generated in large spaces, and by a'cause accepted as right, went forward to battle, giving their life's blood for us. Words failed to picture in detailed outline the soul-moving events and conditions of "the days we" commemorated, arid those immediately after.- Slowly moving through zones' of • shrapnel and bullet-swept, shelterless sea,.the land-, ing alone; on enemy shores, was an almost superhuman task. .To climb the; heights and/effect a precarious foothold on hotly-disputed enemy country was even a grander achievement. The sweating, toiling, heavily-laden men accomplished their task and reachedthe heights, only because of an incentive that was rather of a spiritual nature than a humvi quality. "As men possessed" might wel be said of them, the flower of the. Southern Seas. • "THEY GAVE THEMSELVES." Glory and honour, self-denial and sacrifice, with . abandonment to a cause, all these qualities and factors stood out in bold distinction, and might well be expressed, in three words, "They gave themselves." For what? That the iron hand of militarism must no longer grind the nations/that this spirit should not stalk unchallenged and unchecked through a world abounding with wonderful potentialities and capable of peaceable development. They gave themselves not goaded by silly jest nor by sarcastic tongue lashed into action. Their vision was that "home and country" needed their youthful' or bronzed manhood's powers and help.- This they gave .willingly. They gave themselves, for they considered their King—the monarch their eyes had never seen—needed them. The Constitution: of the Empire, of which they ,were only dimly aware, was endangered. They were fearful that the glorious banner of liberty might be half-masted. Though the scoffers hurl the cry of "jingoism" upon all this, to countless thousands these things counted and must remain. As they stood there, they remembered their brothers and sisters who had served their country, and when they recalled that the total death roll now stood at 24,379, and that the number of deaths and casualties might be spread over three-fifths of the- expeditionary force they learned something of the measure of sacrifice.1 They remembered also those who were still with them, but living in suffering either of body or mind. Perhaps these present-day sufferers' had a greater right to a personal expression, because of their impossibility of release from the grim reminders of other days. Their bodies, also their minds, carried with them.at all times those scars and mutilations, indicative of the part they played in past years, and the burden they had borne during the years that had elapsed. LESSONS OF THE PAST. "Is the sacrifice worth while?"- continued Lieutenant-Colonel Walls. "This question at this time cannot. be answered conclusively. But this we know, as their passing has so many associations arid qualities of spiritual worth, we do not mourn for them. Rather do' we mourn that the ideals for which they, gave themselves appear to us.who remain as far distant of realisation as ever." Selfishness, so frequently an individual if not a national trait, was a failing which was used in legitimate avenues. The higher planes of commerce were forsaken that the individual might gain wealth at the expense of human life. War, or its equivalent, which should be but an incident of history, became magnified out of its proper relationship to every other consideration, and commercial channels were used upon which to float death-dealing missies with every pos-

sibility of mass destruction. This was the gross inhumanity which was rearing itself above all the memory of sacrifice, suffering, and personal knowledge gained during 1914-18. This was the point of mourning, acknowledging that the lessons of the past 20 years were ruthlessly cast aside. We lived today as though no pen.of steel wrote fresh history, dipped for the purpose in the world's best blood. "We did fail to see;, we did not recognise that the strongest, most adventurous and virile, with the flower of intellectualism, the worth-while of the race, were swept away. If we truly acknowledged this, the order of our going would change. "Time has passed," concluded Lieu-tenant-Colonel Walls, "and tides have flowed and ebbed ceaselessly since 1915. Time does not possess healing powers. Rather do we see things from a clearer perspective. The great lesson of the past is that daily incident is inconsequential, it is our lasting reaction which matters. We must live remembering the lessons of the past. Understanding a little clearer the message of today, we prepare ourselves against the mistakes of the future. Living in the spirit of Anzac, and surveying some of the spiritual benefits of sacrifice, we exclaim, 'O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory.? But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.'" .;_■:■ . . A HUSHED GATHERING. Led by the Port Nicholson Band the gathering joined in singing the hymn "Lest We Forget," after which the always impressive "Last Post" was played by four-bugles of, the Ist Battalion, Wellington Regiment, under Sergeant-Bugler. C. James. Immediately the buglers concluded, TrumpeterMajor F. C.Chegwin, stationed at a corner of the balcony outside the tower of the wooden section of Parliament House, sounded the "Reveille." From this high point the notes came down to the crowd clear and true. There was no other sound. It was one of the most impressive parts of the service. . The National Anthem was sung and the service concluded with the Benediction, pronounced by the Rev. Mr. Robertshawe. The service over, the returned soldiers (who year by year-provide more powerful evidence against the war), territorials, cadets, frontiersmen, the representatives of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy (including a detachment of marines in their white helmets), and others on parade marched past the Cenotaph in column of fours, saluting as they passed, and they' then marched along Lambton Quay, and on to their dismissal points. No hitch occurred in the arrangements, everything' being \ carried out to schedule " under the, watchful eye of Mr. J. Spence, the Wellington R.S.A. secretary. • After the march . past, the floral tributes, as on past occasions, attracted much interest, many taking the opportunity of filing past; and seeing them at close range until the arrival' of the Ist Battalion, .Wellington Regiment, for the playing of the impressive "Retreat" in honour of the regiment's dead. ' '..'.;■