DECLARATION BAY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17861, 6 August 1918, Page 5

DECLARATION BAY.

HOLD FAST.

LLOYD GEORGE'S MESSAGE.

!' JPbe Press Association.]

WELLINGTON, August 5

THie Governor-General has been requested to convey to the people of New Zealand the following messago from the Prim© Minister of the United Kingdom :

The message which I send to the people of the British Empire on tho fourth anniversary of their entry into the war is: "Holdfast." We are in this war for no selfish ends. Wo are in it to recover freedom for the

nations which have been brutally at-

tacked and despoiled, and to prove that no people, however powerful, can i iurrender itself to tho lawless ambitions of militarism without meeting retribution swift, certain and disastrous at the hands of the free nations of the world. To stop short of victory for this cause would be to compromise the future of mankind '. I Bay hold fast because our prospects of victory have never been so bright as they are to-day. Six months ago the rulers of Germany deliberately rejected the just and reasonable settlement proposed by the Allies. Throwing aside • the last mask of moderation they partitioned Russia, enslaved Rumania and attempted i to seize supreme power by overwhelming the Allies in a final and desperate attack. Thanks to the invincible bravery of all the Allied armies it is row evident to all that the dream of universal 1 conquest, for the sake of which they have wantonly prolonged the war, can never bo fulfilled. .

But the battle is not yet won. Tho great autocraoy of Prussia will still endeavour by violence or guile to avoid defeat and so give militarism a new lease of life. We cannot seek to escape the horrors of war for ourselves by laying them up for our children.

Having set our hands to the task we must see it through till a just and •lasting settlement is achieved. In no other way can we ensure a world set free from war. Hold fast. D. LLOYD GEORGE,

CELEBRATION IN BRITAIN.

MESSAGES FROM OVERSEAS DELEGATES.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright,

Australian and N.Z. Association. (Received August 6, 7.50 p.m.) LONDON, August 4,

Services commemoratory of the entry into the fifth year of tho war were held throughout Britain. Special services were held in all the churches.

The King and Queen and other members of Royalty and of • the House of Lords and the House of Commons were present at an impressive service at St Margaret's, Westminster. The following messages were issued to the people on the evo of the entry of the new year of war: —Mr Massey: "We have had many disappointments, but there is also much to be thankful for. We can confidently say that we are stronger to-day than ati any time in our history. There is now no reason for pessimism, but every reason for confidence."

General BoJtha Mid: —"With four years of war behind us it is clearly S roved that peace without victory will e disastrous. Let us press forward with unfailing courage and we will be rewarded by the success that is essential to the world's <Deace." • Sir Robert Borden:—-"Tho task is accomplished, but the pledge made must not be broken. The tradition found in the undying history and glorious achievements of a thousand years cannot be broken. We- are bound alike to those fallen and those yet unborn to hold this heritage." Mr Massey, presidinc at the Y.M. C.A. service at the Aldwych Theatre, said that Germans aimed to kulturise tbe world and make Berlin a kind of New Jerusalem. , They had failed. The stido had turned and the Allied victory was now assured.