ANZAC DAY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 27 April 1925, Page 9

ANZAC DAY.

AT MAJNAIA. (From Our Own Correspondent.) There was .a very large attendance at the combined services held on Anzac Day at Mainiaia, both at the Town Hall and the Octagon early in the day. The returned soldiersi had a cento tap h placed alongside the memorial. This was driaped with the. Union Jack and Very many beautiful wreaths were placed on the; monument. The hall wais crowded. The Revs. A. C. Swainson and O. Roberts tooh part, and a, splendid address was. delivered! by the Rev. J. D l . Smith, B.A. In the 'afternoon the Man.aia Municipal Brass Band, under conductor J. A. G. Cosgrove, thirty strong, played a .shout programme in the rotunda, after which a procession was formed up at the file brigade station,' obhisistiiig of a large squad of returned soldiers, school children and Boy Scouts. Headed by the blind, it marched to, the Town Hall, where 1 the memorial service whs held. Afterwards at the memorial irf the Octagon, another service was held. Mr. S. H. Greaves (ip’resident of the .Returned Soldiers’ Association) placed a beaut if uf wreath on. the mibnument. The Rev. C. Roberts read sentences from the burial service, and at its conclusion Conductor Cosgrove sounded “The Last Posh” arid the band played Handel’s “Dead Miarc-h in Said.” The .band also, played "a. •programme of sactod music. The following placed wreaths on the cenotaph and monument f Returned Soldiers’ Association, B. and E. Weills, Boy Scouts, High School', Public School, Ladies’ Patriotic Society, Mis© l|L Haistie, O. T. Flarry, Mr., Mrs. and Master A. G. Bennett, Mrs. E. A. Mitchell, Mr. and, Mrs. R. Smith, Misses Niool, Cbok and Smith, Mr. and Miv T. Hair, Mr. and, Mrs, J. A. G. Cosgrove, Mr. and Mrs. El. J. Kendall, Rev. and Mrs. D. Smith, Mrs'.' and Miss Oaseidy, Mr. and Mrs. V. H. Hobday. Mr. and Mbs. TJ. Siliby, Jean Meuli, P. T. Hahtmonds aiV(l family, Mr. iand Mb' l - ( Cb ‘,Whi'te, 'Mr! and Mrs., Rl. . Frank! ito Mrs. .SpVoul' and family, Mr', and Mrs.' B. BayllamL .-Mills' M. Sproul, Mrs. W. Kerr, Mrs. and Miss Borne, Mr. and Mrs. E. Judd and family, and many others'" without cards

SERVICE AT KAPONGA. At Ivapouga, a large gathering of townspeople and visitors ,lrom the surrounding'district' attended at. tiiC combined memorial service held under the auspices ol the civic authorities in tlie ’town Hall. ' The- majority of the school children attended in an organised body, and the. .Girl Guides and boy Scouts paraded in unitoim. Tlie Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican Churtlies were represented on the platform by the Rev. A. Blakemore. the Rev. H. A. Moore, and Mr A. Grace respectively. The Rev. TJlakemore delivered the address, and the Rev. Moore led the general thanksgiving' and Lord’s Prayer, ’and“also opened up the servich'prayer, and presided'during the dedication of the memorial wreaths, a large number' of which presented and grouped before a tiag-draped table placed on the platform. ’ l'he Scripture reading was ren'dered by Mr Grace, who selected the beautiful passages contained in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah. In an impressive address, the Rev. Blakemore referred to Anzac Day as a great day of remembrance —a day on which to. recall the significance of the great sacrifice made by those who, leaving their homes in all the g'ory of strong and healthy manhood, had laid down their lives ' on the battlefield, and a day on which to pay special tribute in grateful appreciation of tlie service rendered by those heroes, lii such a spirit the lhemorial service was being held, and those in attendance had gathered together reverent\v. as though the spirits of the departed were in their midst, to offer up thanks for the great heroism which had been shown. With the passing of the years, continued the speaker, memory of the dreadful experiences cf the stressful days of the Great War were fading, and already the years separating the present from thqse eventful days seemed greater than they actually were. In order, therefore, to guard against the possibilitv of the people of New Zealand ever forgetting the noble services rendered, a particular day—the anniversary of one of the greatest episodes of. the war—had rightly been set aside as a public day of thanksgiving and remembrance in honour of the great sacrifice made by those who had gone forth to conflict from which they never returned. The speaker referred to various memorials which, down through the ages, had been erected to remind succeeding generations of great benefits conferred. Finishing with a mention of the memorials established in .honour of those who had sacrificed their lives in the recent world conflict, he emphasised that they would he useless, and the -sacrifices 'they represented

would be rendered futile if those whom it was intended should have been benefited, .realising that the services were given to help humanity and save the world from oppression, did not endeavour to eliminate evil, crush wrong and niould their lives in service to others, so that the world would, be made a .worthier abiding place. Such an endeavour, concluded the speaker’in terms of earnest appeal, would truly provide the most fitting memorial and the highest tribute which could be paid to those heroes in honour of whom the gathering was assembled. The well-known hymns, “O God Our Help in Ages Past,” “God of Our Fathers,” “llock of Ages,” and “These Things Shall Be,” were sung in unison by the congregation, led by a combined choir of some thirty voices. On completion of the final, hymn, ■ “These Things Shall Be,” the benediction was pronounced by the JRev. Moore, after which the first verse of the National Anthem concluded a beautiful ceremony. ’’ After the service the dedicated .floral emblems were taken by the Girl Guide’s and .Boy Scouts to the cemetery and distributed amongst the tablets erected there to the memory of sqme of the local soldiers who’ made the .supreme sacrifice/ ' I IN OTHER PLACES. | Telegrams from all parts of New, Zealand record that Anzae Day was celebrated with due ‘solemnity. “In many places the vast crowds passed resolutions of sympathy .with the Prime Minister in his illness and expressed the wish that he would be restored* to health and strength.