THE MILITARY PAGEANT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19549, 31 January 1927, Page 8

THE MILITARY PAGEANT.

Congratulations are due to those who carried through the military pageant to so emphatic a success. They had a worthy object in their endeavour to raise funds for the Auckland Military Sports Association, whose aim is the fostering of good character and qualities of sound citizenship among the youths and young men within its reach through their organisation for military training. This aim—very different from that of turning the manhood of the country to vainglorious militarism—has given the association a sure place in general regard, and the prospect of an. instructive, spectacular display under its management naturally aroused widespread interest. The undertaking was ambitious. A lack of the right spirit, a clumsy planning of the spectacle, a blundering in executive direction, and the result would have been worse than a failure. Instead, it proved a splendid triumph of organisation, and had withal a satisfying touch of serious dignity that made it much more than an entertainment. Eye and ear were enthralled, but mind and heart also were delighted and thrilled. Its historic motif was the soldier, but the soldier as Ruskin has taught many to see him, holding his life at the service of the State, with the pleasures of the world behind him, and only death and his duty in front. Few in the vast crowds that thronged the Domain could rail to be inspiringly impressed. The pageant will be long memorable as a' credit to its promoters and participants, and an occasion of deeply reverent moments.