THANKS OF N.Z.

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 102, 2 May 1941, Page 8

THANKS OF N.Z.

MR. FRASER'S REPLY

INSPIRATION AND

RELIEF

GLORIOUS FUTURE

The message from General Freyberg was immediately acknowledged by the Prime Minister in the following terms: — ,

"Your message of" April 30 will greatly relieve and inspire the whole Dominion. The decision to help Greece with all its hazards has been nobly sustained and supported by the glorious achievements of your men. We feel in the words of Rupert Brooke, written perhaps in. the same region, that 'Honour has come back as King to earth and paid his subjects with a royal wage; and Nobleness walks in our ways again; and we have come into our heritage.' Whatever the future may bring, our souls are strengthened by the fact that the step was taken with all its known dangers and risks and nations which make such decisions cannot die nor can they be conquered.

"It is of these materials that the foundations of a glorious future are being laid and it is this knowledge which sustains and strengthens the inspiration to be free.

"It is this knowledge of the material to go, into the foundations of the future which carries on and strengthens the inspiration to be free.

"To you personally and to your officers and I extend the heartfelt gratitude and congratulations of the Government, the War Cabinet, and the people of the Dominion for the truly magnificent stand you have made in the face of overwhelming odds."