THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY “Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1946. CHALLENGE OF ANZAC

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 55, Issue 32704, 24 April 1946, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY “Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1946. CHALLENGE OF ANZAC

“They rode out of the narrowpasses and died in far land’s and on strange seas.” In those simple words carved on a rough-hewn stone on a hill behind Timaru there is a timelessness which binds 1 two generations. Veterans will remember tomorrow over half a lifetime old comrades; thirteen thousand of them were lost to their generation ; with their wives and families that number would make a large New Zealand provincial oli again under Olympus, at oli again under Olypmpus, at Thermopylae and in the olive groves at Crete; the stands of Sinai were found again in the Western Desert; their Albert road was the Appian Way and their Passendaele was Cassino. The bitter thought may be revived that the sacrifice of their fathers was in vain, but their sons cherished the same ideals of liberty and abhorance of oppression. Two wars have been won and a peace lost, and with remembrance for the dead there must bethought for the living. Hundreds of maimed survivors will be with us’ for years, and there will be those who will bear no visible scars of war, but whose health and nerves will prove to be impaired. These are a challenge to our conscience that is not answered by buying a badge of respectability on Poppy Day; it is a duty for each one of us in our daily contacts, for every employer and for every community organisation. Unless each recognises the duty of sympathetic understanding that goes beyond State departments or regulations no matter how well intentioned, the New Zealand which these went overseas ,to preserve will not be one nation but two nations neither quite appreciating the outlook of the other. That is no foundation for peace and progress. If New Zealand was worth the sacrifice, duty does not end with the war’s’ last post. Peace has her victories no less renowned than those of war; it calls for the same comradeship, the same undemonstrative work, for a chance for a fair deal in both service and rewards, for faith and courage. There is only one way to do that arid only one memorial worthy of the crusaders: — . . . Since they died before their task was finished. Attempt new heights. Bring even their dreams to birth, Build us that better world. (O, not diminished By one true splendour that they glimpsed on eartJh). And that’s not done by sword or tongue or pen; There’s but one way: God make us better men.