The New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1918. THE DAY OF ANZAC

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 9955, 26 April 1918, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1918. THE DAY OF ANZAC

The new Empire was born when the blast of the . War Declaration was in the air, and it was baptised in fire on Anzac Day. In the interval men had rushed to arms in every country of what was called the Empire, at the call of the Motherland in a great cause. About the reality of this Empire up to that time the whole world had been in < doubt. An idea was abroad that the fabric would collapse at the first strain of war, through lack of cohesion. Tho proof is the multitude of schemes put forth to supply that cohesion, and that proof was underlined impressively by the persistent efforts to get a hearing for those schemes and the adoption of one or more of them or a mixture of their best parts. The fabric, for all its imposing appearance, had given no sign, of life. Suddenly the war blast went over, its many faces, armed legions sprang from the ground, and the Empire was born. The great fabric had found its soul, and had moved into the battle line. The baptism of fire followed on tho day of Anzac. Mem of the overseas who had never seen battle went into the fire like veterans beside the regular soldiery of the old Kingdom, and made for themselves > record that will shine i» history to tho emd of time. Before tho wondering world they became part of tho great tradition established by the fighting regiments whose names had been household words in Britain for centuries. Their fathers had gone out into the wilderness; they had established themselves sturdily; they had maintained the freedom, the language, tho civilisation they had taken witfi them; they had made their settlements into States well furnished and well governed. TVhon the trumpet sounded, their sons had gone forth in kinship and loyalty,' and they had sealed their Imperial faith at Anzac. After Anzac there has been no call for any sneering at Imperial cohesion. The cohesion, strong and indefeasible, Was proclaimed at Anzac. Tho day of Anzac is thus the greatest anniversary in tho history of tho British Empire. It is above all other anniversaries, because of that Imperial cohesion which the great battle of Its inspiration proclaimed. It is a cohesion such as no other Empire of history has possessed. They were all Empires of force. This is an Empire based on freedom, and reared with reason. They perished by the force which created them: this one can hope to bo preserved' by the reason which has built it np on the best possible human foundations. Time has seen their rise end their fall; this one may endure to tho end of Time. Should it thus endure. Time will record with his last breath that the lessons ho wrote in the duet of great Empires were heeded by tho greater British Empire, which, therefore, endured. The great anniversary was opened in all the States of tho Empire, with grateful, reverent thoughts for the souls of those who, cementing the Imperial cohesion, made the supreme sacrifice iu a noble cause. It was meet, for tho cause for which they died is the cause of freedom, truth, and justice on earth, and may well be called by general agreement the cause of Heaven. Their comrades, who are worthily upholding tho same cause in tho fields of tho great war, had tho honour of many thoughts and many voices. It but emphasised tho tender, practical attention to their well-being, by which their people strive daily without ceasing to soften for them the hardships ( of the service they have

chosen. Thus passed- , the day here. How it passed in the field wo can readily imagine. For that, we know how the splendid bravery and brightness of the Anzac landing have been carried through many of the great battlefields, marking the months of the years that have,passed, with names unforgettable. In Palestine they,,have earned as the finest horsemen of the campaign fame ranking with the fame won on those fields by the best phalanx of the Greece of Alexander, by the Knights of the Crusades, by the soldiers ,of Napoloon. In-. France they have been in -front all over the Somme battlefields. To them Messines is a monument, commemorating their bravery beside the men of Australia and the men of the armies of Britain. At Pa&schendaelo they showed how bravo men face death when victory is hopeless. These are -roebfids btifehf ”aiid glorious of the.past. To-day they are in the battle lines playing a strong part in forbidding the advance of the German hosts swarming forward to beat down the cause of Freedom, Truth, and Justice. We have accounts in detail of their behaviour. From these we . realise that in the greatest battle of history the brave soldiery of our Dominion are showing the daring, the cheerfulness, the devotion, the endurance, and the contempt of odds which marked them in the greatest landing in the annals of war. As they wore in their first battle, so are they in the latest of the records to reach us. Such_ conduct is an assurance that an Empire held together by such cement as their devotion will not perish before the end of Time.