Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1923. ANZAC DAY.

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 July 1923, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1923. ANZAC DAY.

The decision by tlie Arbitration Court that workers (unless an award specifies to Ihe contrary) are not legally entitled to their wages on the enforced Anzae Day holiday, has prompted an (inquiry in the House of Representatives, as to what the Government proposes to do about' it. A Labour Member suggest e< I consideration of lhe advisability of amending the law so as to provide for wages payment or lhe commemoration of the day on the next Sunday. Dlr. .Ins!ice Fraser, when announcing lhe. Court’s decision, deprecated Anzae Day being made a bone of contention owing to lhe loss of wages, and he, too, hinted at the desirability ol tin' nearest Sunday |o April 25 being chosen as Ihe

commemoration occasion. If merely an easy solution of any difficulty is sought, such Sunday observance would be an obvious course, but the Returned Soldiers’ Association and the bulk of public opinion have, hitherto, expressed strong views that no other day than April 25 itself must be reserved for the day of sacred remembrance. The chief point for decision is whether Anzac Day is worth preserving, and if the answer is in the affirmative —and this country would have to have a deplorably short memory to declare otherwise—then the question of a day’s wages loses its importance. There is a suspicion that some circles, through their bias against anything recalling military life, would welcome the end of Anzac Day as a national festival, and that their tears over the day’s lost wages will be of the brand popularly known as “crocodile.” Doubtless, the loss of a day’s wage is an item of importance to some workers, but this is (U'ten borne with equanimity for sporting and other events, far less essential to observe than the day’s recollection of the sacrifices of those who made normal employment possible these days in this country. It would be well if an arrangement could be contrived by which the loss of wages because of Anzac Day was kept at a minimum, and "employers might agree to be generous on such occasion, seeing its special purpose. To reserve any day but April 25 for Anzac memorial celebrations would mean that these would soon dwindle to nothingness. If a Sunday were chosen, there would be little difference, after a year or two, apart perhaps from special services in the churches, between that Sunday and any others in the year, and as the modern tendency is to make Sunday more and more pleasure-seeking, Anzac Sunday would witness scenes quite out of keeping with its designed character. It cannot be too strongly emphasised that some such days .as Anzac Day are really necessary 1o national progress. They act as a check to materialism, and lead national thoughts to higher things. In the stress of life, as it is to-day, it is too easy to forget ideals, and the effect on character is lamentable. Anzac Day, with its vivid recollections of the horrors of war, must also be a strong factor tending to encourage the maintenance of world peace, and professed pacifists and lovers of disarmament at any price, should, therefore, help to retain Anzac Day. It is to be hoped that the Government will not choose the line of least resistance, but will hold to the former decision to honour the Anzacs and those who fell elsewhere, on April 25, and not let a primary object be made inferior. In time, it may be advisable to reconsider the position, but that should not be for many years yet. The aim should be to find ways helping to preserve April 25 as the day of special memories, and • if Government, Arbitration Court, employers and employed, co-opcrate for that purpose, any present difficulty will soon be removed.