CHINA’S DAY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 7 October 1942, Page 2

CHINA’S DAY

DOMINION OBSERVANCE PRIME MINISTER'S REQUEST Wellington, Oct. 6. A suggestion that at all public functions next Saturday, 10th October, which is China’s national day, appropriate reference should be made to China and her war effort and that flags be flown in her honour was made by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser. He said he had consulted a number of Church authorities and with their whole-hearted support he invited all Churches in New Zealand to make special reference to China in their services next Sunday. “It gives me great pleasure to invite the people of New Zealand this year to celebrate the day in a manner befitting our sincere admiration for all China is doing and our heartfelt sympathy for her people in all they are suffering in a cause which is as much ours as theirs,” said Mr Fraser. “Not only in the present struggle, but also in the great work of nostwar reconstruction, China is deserving of all we can give in both material and moral support. To the extent that we of the British Commonwealth of Nations and our other Allies can come to the fullest understanding of China and her aims depends the future peace and prosperity of the whole Pacific area.

“To the Chinese resident in New Zealand, many of them of the second generation New Zealand-born, we have cause for gratitude. On top of their very large contributions to China’s war effort they have been most generous givers to our own patriotic funds. For their Generalissimo, Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, and Madame Kai-shek, to whose patriotism and outstanding capacity as leaders of their great country is joined spiritual greatness as sincere Christians, I am sure our people will devote special thought.”—P.A.