ANZAC DAY TO-DAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16833, 25 April 1918, Page 5

ANZAC DAY TO-DAY.

AUCKLAND OBSERVANCE. COMMEMORATION SERVICES. CoiirtETE arrangements have been made for the fitting celebration in the city to-day of the third anniversary of Anzac Day. The commemoration gathering at tho Town Hall, which is timed for 3 p.m., will be preceded by a procession of the veterans of Anzac, who are to muster at the Queen's Wharf at 2.15 p.m. Major A. 0. B. Price will take charge of the

parade, and the procession will be headod by the 3rd, Auckland, Band. Motor-cars will be provided for the conveyance of the soldiers at the hospital annexo and those who are unable to walk. Many Anzacs who reside in the country have come in to Auckland for the celebration, the Waikato, King Country and the northern districts being well represented. The King's Empire Veterans will be drawn up as a guard of honour at the entrance to the Town Hail. The .Mayor, Mr. J. H. Gunson, will preside, and the speakers will be Dr. A. W. Avenll, Anglican Bishop of Auckland the Rev. Steele. Croik, and Mr. H. C. Hoddcr, Commissioner of the Salvation Army. Among those present will be the executive of the Returned Soldiers' Association, the chairman of the Harbour Board, and city councillors, the various Consuls and other representative men, including suburban Mayors. It is expected that the returned soldiers will fill the body of the hall, and the nest of kin the gallery, but if there are anyvacant seats the hall will be opened to the public shortly before three o'clock. A souvenir programme has boon printed, embodying the details of the service, with the chosen hymns. It is expected that about 1000 guests will attend the smoke concert, to he given at the Town Hall this evening. The only

J invitations issued, apart from the soldier 1 guests, aro those to the civilian guests of 9 the afternoon. His Excellency the Go--1 vernor the Earl of Liverpool has for- , warded an apology, stating his inability t to bo present. 3 A number of church gatherings will be I held throughout the city during tho day, i Holy Communion will be celebrated at St. 3 Mary's Cathedral at 7.30 a.m., and a • service will be held at 11 a.m., when Bis- ' hop Avenll will speak. The service at i St. Matthew's at 12.15 p.m. will be at- ; tended by the King's Emp re Veterans, and the Rev. W. E. Gillam will speak. Morni ing and evening services will be held , at St. Paul's Church. The services ,| at the Baptist Tabernacle will be • | held at 11 a.m. and 7.30 The Rev. R. S. > Gray, of Dunedin, will be the principal • speaker. High Mass will be celebrated ' at St. Patrick's Cathedral at 9 a.m., when ' | Bishop Cleaiy will preside. United services, under the auspices of the Auckland Ministers' Association, will be held in the Pitt Street Methodist Church at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., and at 7.30 p.m. Aj combined service will be held at St. I Paul's Presbyterian Church, Devonport, at 7.30 p.m. Special services are to be held at St. John's Church, Northcote, at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. A half-holiday will be: observed at Onchunga, and in the evening a united memorial sen-ice will be held in the Congregational Church. The Rev. A. B. Chappell, M.A., will conduct the service. A half-holiday is being observed throughout the city and suburbs, and the Mayor , j has requested citizens to make a liberal I ' display of bunting for the occasion. The I municipal library will bo closed, and all city works will be closed down, the workmen being given a half-holiday. ANNIVERSARY IN THE SCHOOLS. ADDRESSES TO THE PUPILS. Speaking to about 600 children at the Maungawhau- school, Mount Eden, yesterday, Mr. C. J. Parr, MP., said that not even the glories of Messines or Passchendaele could dim the memory of Anzac Day. It would always be the red letter day of New Zealand arms. At Anzac Cove, threa years ago, the Australians and New | Zealanders achieved the impossible.. Ger-1 ' man engineers of high repute had de-1 clared that no force could land on Gallipoli and live for an hour, vet for eight months our force clung to the rocks of the I peninsula, and immobilised 300,000 Turks, who otherwise might have seized Egypt. The wonderful evacuation of 200,000 men I without the loss of a man, and leaving no 1 booty, was perhaps the most strange and extraordinary event of tho war. Our High Command feared a loss of at least 20,000 men in getting away. History; would say that the coming of Turkey into j tho war "as our enemy had affected the I position more than any other single un-, toward event. British diplomacy had boen at fault, or Turkey might have been a friend. One result would be that after the war the diplomatic and Consular services of the Empire would be filled with younger men of proved energy and busij ness capacity. The old school of diplomats would go. Our rulers must Bee that young New Zealanders received a fair share for the future in these Empire appointments. I Functions in celebration of Anzac Cay | were held at tho Rcmuera schools yesterday afternoon. The chairman of the School Committee presided at the Drogmore Road school. An address was given by Principal Garland, and Messrs. W. R. AUiiigham and A. Paterson members of the committee, also spoke. Sirs. C. R. Munro planted a tree, which will be suitably labelled in memory of Anzac Day, 1918. The scholars at . the Meadow Bank school were addressed by the Rev. E. A. Bridger and Messrs. H. Dearsley and J. B. Paterson. Mr. J. Clark, chairman of the Ponsonby School Committee, spoko to tho children at the Richmond Road school. Part-songs were given by the children, and the school j band played selections. I At several of the other public schools the ! pupi's were addressed by the headmasters on the subject of Anzac Day. A holiday will bo observed in the schools to-day. The pupils and staff of the Auckland Grammar Schools will assemble in the hall of the boys' school at 2.15 p.m. to-day, when short addresses will be given bv the headmaster, Mr. J. W. Tibbs, Mr. G. J. ''• Garland and Professor A. P. W. Thomas. The Board of Governors, at their meeting yesterday, expressed the hope that the headmasters and staffr of city and suburban primary pchools would attend the ceremony.