MEMORIAL SERVICES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15629, 8 June 1914, Page 7

MEMORIAL SERVICES.

NEW ZEALAND'S SYMPATHY. " ■ i SALVATION ARMY'S DEAD. Memorial services we're held last evening throughout, the Dominion with reference to the great disaster. ~ The seven Salvation Army barracks In Auckland and ' suburbs were draped for the occasion, and in every instance were crowded. Brigadier Hoare (Wellington) and.Adjutant Gray, assisted by 30 corps cadets, led the meeting in the City Bafracks, Albert Street. Preceding the serVice;, the band marched through* Queen Street playing' the "Dead March" in "Saul." Many were unable to gain admission to the hall long before the service; commenced./ .

The/brigadier gave a solemn address, preaching from the texts, " It is appointed into roan once to die and after death the judgment" and "He showed me a new Heaven and. a new earth." Daring the meeting the "Dead March" was played by the band, the congregation standing. The Newton.Band played the ."Dead March" marching through Karangahape Road to tie barracks in Ponsonby, where Brigadier Vince, assisted by Adjutant Thurkettle. Adjutant Sharpe (Wellington) and Ensign Hamel (Canada) addressed the meeting. The ensign, who has lately arrived from Canada, and who was closely Asoociated with the lost officers, related some stirring incidents in their lives. The congregation stood as the band played the "Dead March." Miss Alice Rimmer sang the solo, " Come Unto Me." ' The disaster was referred to by the Rev. W. E. Giliam, vicar of St, Matthew's Church, yesterday morning. The subject of the sermon was, "The Sea and 'It* Voice," and Mr. Gillam's text was "He chowed me a new Heaven and a new earth; for the first Heaven and the first earth Bfe passed away; and the sea is no more." He made special reference to the late Mrs. H. Wynn Price, who had been a worker in the parish for many years. In speaking of the late Mr. W. R. Bloomfield, the preacher remark™! on tho fine spirit which the deceased had displayed as a British officer. Special hymns and psalms were used for the service, and the choir sang as an anthem "Blest are the Departed" (Spohr).

"The Empress of,lreland Tragedy "was the title of a sermon preached by the Rev. A. Miller at the Edendale Presbyterian Church last night. The main lesson to be learnt from the disaster, said Mr, Miller, was the uncertainty of the future and the tenure of life. People should be mindful of Christ's exhortation, "Be { ye also' readv." In such a crisis as the disaster be was speaking of, faith in God alone could sustain thcra. Agnosticism bore no message of comfort, and atheism was a message of despair. The worldly man found himself at the end of his resources; all his interests were in this life and he had no hope for the future. Tho Christian man could'face 'death fearlessly because with him his death was gain; he went to live with Christ. Tho choir sang " Someday We'll Understand," and at the close of the sermon the congregation joined in singing " Gdd Be With You Till We Meet Again," which was the hymn sung as the ship was sinking by the Salvation Army officers who perished in the disaster.

MISSIONS TO SEAMEN, A memorial service was conducted in the Sailors' Homo Mission Hall by Mr. Arthur P. Cowie, preacher of the Flying Angel Missions to Seamen. The missioner made special reference to .the unseen heroes of shipping disasters—the firomen—who toiled in the bowels of the ship in a noble effort to jj'ave their fellows, almost up to the moment of their own,, .death, Special. hymns and psalms were sung, and the

church furniture was wreathed in violet drapery in token of mourning. At the conclusion of the service Mr. Cowie played the "Dead March "in "Saul." The Anglican Bishop of Wellington presided at a largely attended service at the Missions to Seamen hold in Wellington yesterday afternoon. The Salvation Army held a large memorial service in the .Grand Opera House at nights—(Press Association.) *

MR. HOLMAN'S VIEWS.

CANADIAN RESENTMENT.

Sydney, June 6. .Replving to Canadian criticism of his remarks on the disaster, Mr. Holman (Premier) yesterday maintained the \iew that, the inquiry oucht not to be confined to a few unfortunate seamen or officers, but ought to extend to. those chiefly in responsibility. Where commercial men agreed to send the public from Canada to Europe, but as a matter of fact sent them from Canada to the next world, that alone was sufficient ground for putting those men on trial.

| " I do not say they ouffht to be convicted," he continued. "If they can show, as is effusively' assumed by press backers, that the ship represented the last word in naval architecture, then the trial would not hurt them. But until thov can show that, the fact that the calamity occurred under their direction to men and women who trusted themselves 'i their invitation is a prima facie case aeainst them. This case is further upheld by the Cunard Company's boast that they never lose a passenger or a letter, an illus* tration of what naval skill can accomplish in securing t-ho safety of the travelline public, when those powers are directed primarily to maintaining the public safely, not to inflating dividends."