IN HONOUR OF ANZAC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20239, 26 April 1929, Page 15

IN HONOUR OF ANZAC.

) AUCKLAND OBSERVANCE.

SCENE AT THE CENOTAPH.

CROWDS THRONG THE STREETS.

RECORD PARADE OF SOLDIERS.

For 14 years now, Anzac Day has been the most significant festival in the calen-' dar. Its meaning has sunk deeper into the soul of the New Zealander than all the saints' days and holidays put together. The scars of war heal quickly, it is true, but what must strike the average man, looking on reverently and dutifully at these annually recurring spectacles, is the sensitiveness of the human heart to great and wonderful memories.

Fourteen years! Yet Anzac Day is more full of meaning to-day than ever it was. That was the thought that throbbed incessantly in the brain as the watched, with marvelling interest, his fellow-citizens flocking into the Town Hall memorial service in their thousands, and standing for hours bareheaded beside the Cenotaph. Fourteen 'years! Yet there stood men and women in tears, transfigured by a powerful emotion. / . 2000 Veterans on Parade. Greater numbers have never attended an Day observance. No fewer than 2000 veterans of that greatest of all wars marched up Queen Street to take part in the Town Hall service—the largest Anzac Day parade ever known in Auckland. The predictions of those who foresaw the solemn celebration drifting gradually into disuse have been completely confounded, /the psychology of forgetfulne,ss has been supplanted. The people want their Anzac Day as they never wanted it before. By their own free will they have made it the most popular and democratic of all festivals.

Yesterday, a* always before, the Cenotaph in front of the Town Hall was the central object of reverence. It was the living symbol of death and sacrifice, & glistening shrine before which the multitude stood with bowed heads and saddened hearts. It was at one and the same time a mausoleum to the dead, a monument to the horrors of war, and a statue 'of liberty. - The day was redolent with memories, some stirring and some infinitely sad. To the ex-service man it was primarily a day on which he paid his respects to his lost comrades; still dear to him, though the years are long, but it was also a of his fellows. The men gathered at 10 a.m. inside the wharf gates from every branch of the military and naval services—the most representative of all Anzac Day musters —renewed wartime acquaintances with enthusiasm, chatted over the days that are mercifully gone, and marched side by side in column of fours to the Cenotaph. / The Older Anzacs. Lieutenant-Colonel W. C. Sinel, D.5.0., was in command of the parade, and, as in so many previous years, Lieutenant R. S. Judjon, Y.C., was adjutant. _ A considerable amount of organisation work was performed by Staff-Sergeants Alexander and Stewart. The course followed ihuing the past two years of dispensing with the " Dead March " on the route to the Cenotaph was again adopted, the bands of the Waterside Workers, Field Engineers.-Field Artillery, Auckland Infantry, Salvation Army, Ponsonby Boys' and Seddon Memorial Technical College playing quick-step marches up Queen Street. Grey hairs among some of the marchers remind a new generation that thf* Anzacs aie getting older. The 20C0 men who filed past the Cenotaph yesterriav are no longer the boyish army of 15

\ears ago. A gveat crowd stood round the Cenotaph all morning. At 12.15, when the returned soldiers defiled from the Town Hall and formed a squaie round the great white shrine an expectant hush fell upon the onlookers, broken only by the faint rustle of the flags, fluttering in a gentle breeze, and the tread of the changing guard, supplied by C Company, Auckland Battalion, under Staff-Sergeant-Major T. J. Cronin.. Round the Cenotaph. At the base of the monument wreaths deposited by hundreds of sorrowing mothers, widows and children splashed the morning scene with colour, the bloodred poppy of Flanders predominating. Official \yreatbs were placed on the plinth by Captain E. L. Orr-Ewing, M.C., on behalf of Government House staff, the Hod. J. B. Donald, Postmaster-General, on behalf of the Government, the Hon. D. If. Drummond. Minister'of Education for New South Wales, the Mayor, Mr. G. Baildon, on behalf of the city, Commodore G. T. 3/ P. Svabev, on behalf of the New Zealand Division of tne Royal Navy, and a large number of representatives of local bodies and patriotic and service organisations. Slowly and solemnly the-strains of the " Dead March " in Saul broke out from the .massed bands, under Lieutenant A. J. Clarebut, and swept in a brave surge of music through the echoing streets. The music ended, the guns boomed out from Albert Park, and the " Last Post was plaved from the Town Hall tower bv trumpeters and buglers from the Technical College. No sooner bad the mournful strains died away than buglers from the Auckland Grammar School Cadet Corps struck up the " Revei le and, a« though by magic, the pall o gloom that overshadowed the scene lifted like a morning mist. The city s tribute was completed.

LESSONS OF THE WAR. SOLDIER TO WORK FOR PEACE Auckland Grammar School boys were fortunate' in having as their Anzac Day speaker Major-General Sir George Richardson. In a stirring and inspiring address he drew largely on his own vivid recollections of 111e Gallipoli campaign. The reading at- school prayers, conducted by the headmaster, Mr. H. J. D. Mahon, was taken from the famous forty-fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes, "Let ias row pra!?e famous men." Professor A. P. W. Thomas, chairman of the Board of Governors, members of the board, and many parents and old pupils of the school, were

present. <• "Never be afraid to stand up for what is right and what is true," was Sir George's closing injunction to the assembled boys. With the authority of an eye-witness he described the scenes that took place during the historic first landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula. As typical of the spirit of the young New Zea landers lie described the daring exploit of Colonel B. C. Freyberg, then a lieutenant in the naval division, in swimming ashore alone af night and, with flares, carrying out a feint landing among the Turks. .After recently visiting some of 'he 2000 war cemeteries in 1' ranee, Sir George said he had asked himself how he could prevent this in future, and he had resolved that he would devote his life to the prevention of war. In the League of Nations there was a new light and new" hope for the world made possible bv the sacrifice of our soldiers.

At the close of the service the school battalion paraded in front of the school memorial, where the ceremony of saluting the colours was carried out. A beautiful wreath was laid at the foot of the column, which was surrounded by a fuard of honour.