ANZAC DAY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 265, 8 October 1942, Page 4

ANZAC DAY

MISUSE ALLEGED. WELLINGTON, Oct. 8. That the observance of Anzac Day as a national day of memorial should become a bargaining point in award negotiations was condemned by members of the Dominion executive committee of the N.Z.R.S.A. at its meeting this week. It was pointed out that under the Anzac Day Act, 1920, as amended in 1921-22, Anzac Day is to be observed on April 25 throughout New Zealand as if it were a Sunday, and that, where April 25 falls on a Sunday, there is no provision in the statute for the observance of Anzac Day on the following Monday. "It is regrettable that this day of memorial should be bandied across the floor of the Arbitration Court as a ground for obtaining an extra day's leisure for certain groups," says the association in a Press statement. "Some awards of the Court of Arbitration provide for the observance of Anzac Day on April 26, when April 25 "falls on a Sunday, and the N.Z.R.S.A. contonds that, this entirely conflicts with the spirit • of the Anzac Day Act. "In at least one award there is further provision that when April 25 falls on a Sunday, and Monday, April 26, is also a holiday, Anzac Day shall be observed on April 27. This will happen next year, Anzac Day falling on a Sunday, and April 26 being Easter Monday. "The Public Holidays Act, 1910, makes provision for certain holidays that fall on Sunday to be observed on the following Monday, but Anzac Day has never been placed on the list and consequently should never have been a'lowed to become a bargaining point in award negotiations." It was unanimously decided to make an emphatic protest, urging the Government to rectify \ the existing position rby regulation in keeping with the I Anzac Day Act, 1921-22, which provides ' ". . . .that April 25 in each year shall ■ be known as Anzac Day, and shall be i observed throughout New Zealand in all ■ respects as if Anzac Day were a Sunday." •