SIMPLE, BUT IMPRESSIVE

Evening Star, Issue 22632, 26 April 1937, Page 13

SIMPLE, BUT IMPRESSIVE

SERVICE AT TOWNHALL ADUKSI IY *M. W. PER3Y : , Simple,- yet deeply ' impressive,: was the annual commemoration, held under the auspices of -the Dunedin Returned Soldiers- Association, in the Town .Hall, which was well filled.' The president of the ’association (Mr C. L. • Calvert) occupied the chair,, and on the platform with him were the. mayor (Rev, E. T. Cox) , His Honour Mr Justice Kennedyi ; the-Hon..W. Perry, M.L.C. (president of the New Zealand R.5.A.),; members of the Executive Committee of the 8.5.A.,' and the Returned Soldiers’ Choir. While the colours of the Ist Battalion of the Otago Regiment were borne into’ the hall a general salute was played by the . Trumpet and Bugle Band of the Otago Regiment.- The Band of the Ist Battalion, conducted by Lieutenant L. O. Aston, then played ‘ Chanson. Triste,’ by Tschaikowsky. The singing of Kipling’s-.* Recessional,’ led by the Returned Soldiers’ Choir (conducted by Mr J, T. Leech) and by the band, was followed by the offering of .a prayer by the Rev. W, A. Hamblett, vicepresident . of the Council of Christian Congregations. ‘‘On. this the anniversary of the landing of the Australian and New Zealand troops on Gallipoli, we, whose great privilege it was to bear arms for our country, and you, whose harder task it was to see us go, join together to honour the memory, of those who shared with us that great privilege, but who did not return,” said Mr C. L. Calvert.

“ On this sacred day. we also remember those who returned- to our shores broken in body and .spirit'. On this Anzac Day, on behalf of the lieturned Soldiers’ Association, X renew our promise to do everything, within our power to make their lot more bearable. The commemoration : service which was commenced this afternoon at the Cenotaph will now be continued.”

The Her. Mr Hamblett . gave. the Scripture reading from the ninth verse of the seventh chapter of the Book of Revelations. The Returned Soldiers’ Choir sang Sorrow’s arrangement of the hymn ‘ Lead, Kindly Light,’ and Mr W. N, Satterthwaite sang the ' solo ‘There is No Death,’ by O’Hara. The processional march ‘Silver Trumpets’ (Vivani) was played by the band, and. /■ following the singing of the hyrhn ‘ 0 God, Our Help in Ages Past ’ the principal address was given. DUTY TO THE FALLEN. “ This great association of the citizens of Dunedin, especially in such weather as this,” said Mr Perry, “ is a Ifoyal and spontaneous tribute to those who fought during the years 1914-1918 and to those who died in that great war. To-day, all over New Zealand and the great continent of Australia, people will be gathered for, this same purpose.” In 1920, when the memories of the war were, thick and lay heavily, he continued. Parliament had constituted Anzac Day a public holiday, but only one year was sufficient to show that this was far from being in accordance with the sentiments aroused by the day, and the Act was amended to provide that the day should be celebrated in all respects as a Sunday. There was an erroneous impression held by a large number of people that it commemorated only • those who fought and died on Gallipoli Peninsula, and it was well that these should understand that it was in honour of ell the troops who went to the Great War and in memory of those who died. There was a significance in the fact that the letters or the word “ Anzac ” were, besides being the first letters of the words Australian and New Zealand Army Corps,” the first letters of the words “ Australia. New Zealand Africa, and Canada." From these donrn.ons 1,000,POQ men went to take part in the con-

fiict, and they, demonstrated to the world the solidarity and the cohesiveness of the Empire. The choosing of April was -appropriate, for it was on that day that the Anzacs made their landing on a spot thought by the Turks to be impregnable and held their positions until the evacuation in November, 1915, and the evacuation itself was something of a military triumph, wince it was accomplished .without, the loss of a single man. " ' 1 Anzac Day was not only a day of remembrance and of commemorati m, but also of recollections and of thanksgiving, since a generation was growing up which did not know the war at first hand. The- young men and women .of 20 years or age were not born in those days, and oven those of 30 wire but children. They , were too young to have realised the fears that gripped the hearts of their elders when ihe first news of Jutland seemed to convey tidings of the defeat of the Navy, when the tidings of the death of Lord Kitchener cast a general dismay, when the dark days of the battles of •Amiens and Passchendaele rolled by, or when the crisis was reached m September," 1917, when the subin irine blockade had reduced Britain’s food supply to provision for a mere six weeks It Was well that they should know how near the Allies came to losing the war.- Remembering this, too, the elders should give thanks that their sons and daughters were not hewers of wood and drawers of vater for a foreign nation. New Zeal? "ts did not realise what their fate would have been if Germany had won the war, but an indication was given by the history of the former German colonies in Africa and elsewhere. They were annexed and mandated, and such a fate would have surely befallen ' astral! a and New Zealand.

“ The people of New Zealand,” he said, “ never saw their soldiers. They saw men in mufti marching to the station, and they saw occasional contingents of men in’ khaki marching through the streets. There were among them young men in the flush of their manhood and others in the full vigour of middle age; there were men who had come from the palatial homes of the rich and from the cottages of the poor; there were farm owners and farni labourers; clerks, business and professional men—men from all walks of life called together by a, common sense of duty. You who stayed in New Zealand only saw the soldiers in the making. You did not see them training on the 'blazing sands of Egypt or riding through the Valley of the Jordan ; you did not see the landing on Gallipoli; you did not see their endurance in the mud-filled trenches of the Somme and of Flanders, where the horses and mules of the artillery stuck fast arid could not move an inch and the infantry plodded through laden like packhorses ; you did not seo them at Homo on leave, spick and span, admired by all who saw them and a credit to the land that bore them. No traveller has since returned to New Zealand without telling of the fine reputation of the men of this country in the line, and, as a young junior officer in the New Zealand Expeditionary, Force, I take pride in telling you or these things.’’ “ We also meet,” he said, “ to honour the meit and women who died, and it is well that we should, for the nation is ripe for decay which does not honour its dead.” These men and women had answered the simple call of duty. They saw the path lie before them, and followed it unflinchingly. No sacrifice made for the community by its most distinguished statesmen could bo compared with that of those who gave their all and who lay in foreign lands and under the Seven Seas. Time healed many wounds, and to-day there was pride and exaltation that New Zealand, ers had acquitted themselves so magnificently and had, as Sir lan Hamilton so finely said, “spread, the fame of New Zealand over the world.” It was for those who lived to see that they were Worthy of the sacrifice. Those men and women had given theif lives for their country and for democracy, for the preservation 1 of government of the people by the people for the Eeople. Each man and woman to-day, e said, should ask what ho or she was doing to maintain tho institution and ideals which had been preserved at so grOat a cost.

To you from failing hands we throw Tho torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die, We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

“ If we were not Christian people,” he said, “ believing in the .resurrection andi the joys of eternal life, we could imagine those slain men turning in their graves, muttering confusedly _to themselves, with 1,000 demons mocking at the failure of the high ideals and the fruitlessness of the sacrifice. Democracy will only exist if it is effective and prepared to defend itself. It is not unlike any other institution; it will not survice because of its own virtue. If we are not prepared to withstand the shocks of the aggressors it will perish as surely as if _ it was a thing without worth. Examine your consciences, especially you younger men, whether you have taken the torch and held it high. ‘ On Armistice Day, the spirits' of the dead lined tho parapets and cheered for a victory that was worth the sacrifice.’ Consider if you are making any sacrifice to preserve the institutions kept for you by the men and women who .died. On Fame’s eternal camping ground, Their silent tents are spread; And Glory guards with solemn round The Bivouac of the Dead. Peace be to their ashes!” The Trumpet and Bugle Band then sounded the ‘ Last Post,’ and after the pronouncement of the benediction by the Rev. Mr Hamblett, the band sounded the reveille. The ■ National Anthem was then sung, and the colours were marched out, the general salute again being sounded. The Ist - Battalion Band’ played the ‘ Pomp and Circumstance 1 march as the assembly dispersed.