TRAFALGAR CENTENARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12955, 26 August 1905, Page 4

TRAFALGAR CENTENARY.

October 21, 1905, is the centenary of Trafalgar, where Nelson died, after delivering England from fear of invasion by the destruction of the allied Franco-Spanish fleet, [t is incomparably our most famous and momentous naval victory, of which the fruits arc to be seen in the expansion of the Empire, and particularly in the upspringing of the great colonial Britains of the Pacific. These islands of ours could not possibly have become English land had Nelson and his crews failed to do their duty when the naval dominion of England trembled in the balance ; so that it is essentially due from us that steps should be taken in this colony to join heartily in the celebration of (be Trafalgar centenary. As a flourishing port and a naval base, Auckland should be prominent in the movement, and we would urge upon the various authorities the desirability of making immediate preparation, so that Trafalgar Day may not pass without fitting recognition. The Board of Education should be specially active, for unless we teach the rising generation to remember what their forefathers did for us and them, and to hold in grateful recollection the patriotic self-devo-tion from which our colonial life has sprung, we cannot expect of them that, in their turn, as need arises, they also will do their duty. Thanks to the spirit which inspired not only Horatio Nelson, but countless hosts of heroic sailors and soldiers, the Mother Country weathered the fiercest storm that has blown in Western Civilisation. And since the last war has not yet been seen, nor the last naval battle been fought for the safety and security of peaceful homes, it is wise and well to foster among the schoolchildren love of country and reverence for the heroic dead. For the time must come to

New Zealand, as it came to Old Eng- * land, when the national life depends absolutely upon the patriotic ardour j that can do its duty even unto death, | as they did at Trafalgar.