TWO MINUTES’ SILENCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 September 1940, Page 7

TWO MINUTES’ SILENCE

CAPE TOWN’S DAILY HOMAGE. [BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] RUGBY, September 18. A travellei’ just returned from South Africa, in a letter to the “Manchester Guardian,” tells of his experience in Cape Town, where sirens are sounded to call the citizens to an act of homage. “At noon every day,” he states, “they observe two minutes’ silence. The sifens sound and everybody and everythng at once are still. Motorlorries, vans, and bicycles draw up just where they are. A Malay woman with a’ large bundle of washing on her head stops in the act of crossing the street, a youth hurrying to get across the street is suddenly brought to attention. Every man’s hat is doffed. Busy shoppers stand with their purchases, their head bowed. And then ‘Last Post’ is sounded. “During the two minutes’ silence the people pray silently for our sailors, airmen, and soldiers, for England, and for freedom. After ‘Reveille’ the whole city becomes alive in a moment.”