MOUNTED MEN'S MARCH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19292, 3 April 1926, Page 8

MOUNTED MEN'S MARCH

It is growing to be a long time since Auckland listened to the clatter of hoofs as mounted men marched through the city streets. Thursday's event was the first of its kind since the days of 1914, when the men of the Main Body were in camp at Epsom. Armed men in plenty have been seen since then, some naval, some military, some belonging to New Zealand, some from overseas, some even belonging to friendly but foreign nations. But at no time has there been' such a parade of men in the panoply of war, and mounted. It brings back memories which are not free from sadness, as everything must which recalls the time when this people had dedicated itself to aid, to the uttermost, the Empire in its time of travail, but had not realised in full what the price was to be. While the march through the city engenders such thoughts, demanding memory's tribute to those who marched off to war with a gay courage which was none the less resolute for its light-heurtedness, it also brings reflections bearing on the present. One generation of this country's youth has borne the fiery ordeal of war, emerging with an undying record of good deeds well done. Another is following on. That it will be spared a repetition of these events is the profoundest hope of everyone. Yet, however deep and heartfelt that wish, there can never be any certainty of its indefinite fulfilment. For that reason it is an inspiration to see living proof that the tradition founded by young New Zealand —itself a young tradition —is not wholly forgotten. Soldierly duty is still being done in a soldierly way, so that if the hour should strike, the men ready to answer the call of country would not be wholly untaught nor unprepared. That was the real lesson of the spectacle as the mounted men rode through the city streets.