REMEMBRANCE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26242, 28 August 1946, Page 6

REMEMBRANCE DAY

DOMINION OBSERVANCE BRITAIN’S LEAD FOLLOWED (Special). WELLINGTON. Aug. 27. Armistice Day is to give' place to Remembrance Sunday. In New Zealand, as in Britain, each year from now onwards, the dead of both world wars will be honoured not on the fixed date of November 11, but on the Sunday before that date, unless November II or 12 should itself be a Sunday. Remembrance Sunday this year will fall on November 10. The form of observance will be the same as in the past, with traditional services at local cenotaphs and memorials, and the calling of two minutes’ silence at 11 in the morning. This change was announced to-day by the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, who said the New Zealand Government had agreed to follow Britain’s example. He made it clear, in addition, that the change will in no way affect New Zealand’s special observance of Anzac Day as in the past. Mr Fraser explained that the procedure was being altered in Britain this year, and that the inscription on the cenotaph in Whitehall, London, would be amended in a simple way to do homage to those who died in the recent world war, as well as those in the war of 1914-18. 1

"The observance of Remembrance Day in New Zealand should be generally on the same lines as that of Armistice Day in past years," the Prime Minister said. ‘‘ Citizens and traffic control authorities throughout New Zealand are requested to continue to observe the two minutes’ silence from 11 a.m.. and the suspension of all vehicular traffic during that period. Where a service is held, it is suggested that it should continue to be at the local cenotaph or war memorial, as the case may be. “As Remembrance Day will in future always fall on a Sunday, the New Zealand Government trusts that the churches throughout the Dominion will agree to arrange, as far as practicable. for the morning service on that day to be commenced not later than 10.45, and that in the course of the service the several Congregations may be invited to rise at 11 o’clock and observe silence for two minutes."