OUR HEROIC DEAD

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 27 May 1915, Page 2

OUR HEROIC DEAD

4 > V "> i. <■' \ <■ ffiya-cji, are many New Zealand aomW wheYe f sonow 1A a guest to-day, 'and 'there^ is not' one ,or us that s doej3 not mourn the loss of triend, ciub-mate or feilow-Worker, in. "happier days, reading ot the of Greeks and Trojans or Greeks and Persians, we tittle dreamed that the old, old, v/eather-woni hills Chat look west to the Aegean would be dotted with the graves of New Zealanders, fallen m battle for their Empire. But if we have lived life too easity in bygoao years there has been no tailing oi the great qualities of the race. When the call came for sacrifice it was answered, and those biave young soldiers lying out on the pagan hills tell how it was answered. Thoir business was like men to fight And hero-like, to die. Many such lists as those we publish. I this monung will be printed befoie this ghastly work is done,, and there is a note to be written for the benefit ot the community at large that can best be added here. It, is supposed to be a characteristic of the Englishman to avoid emotional idem oust ration, but the national grief and the national gratitude must find some mode of expression. We owe the heroes of the Dardanelles a debt that can never be repaid, but we can and should give every man who volunteers for active service an assurance that those who are dependent on him will be well cared for. Something has been done in tbis direction, it is true, but that something was undertaken, at,a time when none of us realised the magnitude of the task that the New Zealanders would ? have -to face or the extent of tW.sacrifice that i would .have; +o be, made. Perhaps-even I now" we dt> .not'--'fiiljy<- : .,at>p.r;?ciat!& the .char? cter, of' ilie tm^et'tafMii^'.; It is pro- ; posed that the various patriotic funds , sboutd y>4 tiiriKlu&mi&i&d J^,to j, national i fund. Thst course ougni tSSeI forowprl at once: but whether a common fund is I establishftd or hot. the community t)j«t is nursuing its business in seevritv while ..young men. are giving their, lives thousands of miles away to ensure that security nrust, seeito it th?+. the-patri-Micy funds■ are adequat-e. \Ve have v.o knowledge what the need will be in the end, but it is clear that the T«onevs already subscribed ar« only snfficiest form the nncVvs of the si^ that will have to be raised. Our saor-ifice, whatever we give, will be tr'vial eo^^a^d wi+-H t^at nf tbe mou who give lifeifcself.—Lyttelton Times.