SOLDIERS' SAFE RETURN

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 24 May 1919, Page 4

SOLDIERS' SAFE RETURN

AN EMBLEM OF THANKSGIVING

A traveller through the Murchison district, where a number of returned soldiers are taking up Crown land areas, was interested when passing along a rough road through virgin birch and pine forests to hear the sounds of a solitary axeman at work carving a farm out of the forest. It looked a Herculean task, and only a man of courage could have faced it, and yet he was doing it so cheerily. There are thousands of men who were not called upon to go to the war, or were physically unfit to go, and the idea occurs to thoughtful people of what these men are doing or have done to commemorate the deeds of the men who died and to express their thanksgiving for the safe return of others. Are, they doing anything: For, if not, there is an opportunity offering for them to join in with a noble plan for doing something on these lines. The Anglican Cathedral, which it is proposed to build in Wellington, is to be something more than a Cathedral. It will be a place wherein will be enshrined the records of the great deeds which were done by our soldiers. One wing, the west wing, is to be devoted entirely to this laudable object. It is possible for anyone who has cause to be proud of or thankful for their soldier relatives' deeds or safe return to subscribe to provide a window, a pillar, or plate, or other portion, ou which will be inscribed the record of that soldier. To do this the first step is to communicate with -Rev. W. Fancourt, St. Thomas' Vicarage, Newtown, Wellington; Rev^ J. Or. b. Bartlett, Featherston; or Rev. <-~ tt. G. Cowen, Hawera. Gifts gratefully received. Promises may be spread over a period of years. Legacies invited. —Advt.