THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY “Public Service” FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1949 ANZAC DAY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 58, Issue 4128, 29 April 1949, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY “Public Service” FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1949 ANZAC DAY

The annual observance of Anzac Day is more than a day of tribute to those who in two World Wars laid down their lives in defence of the British way of life. It is an Occasion to assess whether this sacrifice has attained the objective all men desire—the establishing of lasting peace and security. If it has not, if there are new dangers to face, if even more insidious challenges to freedom are looming, Anzac Day should be an occasion for a renewed determination that there shall be no betrayal of the cause for which brave men died and suffered. This was the theme of an excellent address delivered by Mr R. J. Harris at the commemoration service held in Paeroa on Monday. Nearly four years after the end of the war in Europe, Anzac Day 1949 finds the world rearming,. distrustful and divided. Further, it is challenged by the very totalitarionism —the rule by fear and force—that caused the Second World War. It was inevitable, therefore, that the thoughts of Australians and New Zealanders on Monday were divided between the past, with its heroic story of sacrifice, and the future, with its pressing dangers. This division, which has been acute since the manifest failure of U.N.O. to secure and guarantee peace, has tended to distract attention from war memorials and similar physical acknowledgments of a community’s gratitude. In turn, organisations have criticised the delays. Such criticisms are warranted, but the delays are not just indifference to the sacrifices made from 1939 to 1945; rather are they a reflection of the public’s bewilderment and frustration at. the appearance of new war dangers hard on the heels of a peace that was desired so ardently and fought for so valiantly. The spirit of Anzac Day 1949 should be one of stern resolution not devoid of hope. That hope will rest in the recent knowledge that out of the disappointing decline in the power of U.N.O. has been built a new regional system of guarantees that binds all the democracies together for their common defence against aggression. The North Atlantic Pact gave this Anzac Day a basis of faith that it could not have had a year ago. And if that faith is accompanied by a resolve to base the pact upon adequate armed strength the hope of peace that is the keynote of Anzac will not be lacking.