Anzac Day Observance

Northern Advocate, 30 July 1938, Page 11

Anzac Day Observance

I Per Press Association. Copyright .] ; WELLINGTON. This Day. . The conference of the New Zealand I Returned Soldiers' Association clis- ; cussed the question of Anzac Day obI scrv.ance on a proposal that the mornI ing should be given to remembrance, j and the afternoon to rejoicing. > The president, the Hon. W. Perry, 1 who said lie had never held the view ! that the observance was what it j should be. said his opinion was ! strengthened by the returned soldiers' I visit to Sydney. There came out of Anzac recognition of. manhood and the Statute of Westminster, which regarded- -the Dominions as standing on a par with Britain as nations in the Commonwealth. It was recognition of the sacrifices made by the Dominions; and he suggested that the efforts between 1915 and 1918 which .achieved nationhood were a matter for rejoicing. Time was a great healer, he said, and after this lapse of time, people felt not so much sorrow, but pride that their sons died for their country. Let them commemorate the memory, and in the afternoon rejoice. He asked the conference not to confuse sentiment with sentimentality. The Matamata Association’s remit advocating no change in the method of observance, provided always that arrangements for services were left to local associations, was recommended in the report of the Anzac Day committee, which was adopted. It was also decided that Anzac Day should bo held only on April 25.