ANNUAL FUNCTIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26791, 7 June 1948, Page 6

ANNUAL FUNCTIONS

SOUTH AFRICAN VETERANS REUNION AND CHURCH PARADE Standing in the rain yesterday afternoon in front of the memorial to the men who were killed in the Boer War, members of the South African War Veterans’ Association attended the annual commemoration service, which is held on the Sunday nearest to the day on which peace was declared at the conclusion of the Boer War in 1902. The service was conducted by the Rev. L. D. C. Groves. , Numbers in the association have remained at a high figure, but after so many years the ranks are thinning, and the veterans at the parade were showing the marks of time. At the annual conference of the association, held in Dunedin in February, only one or; two delegates were able to claim that they were on the “right” side of 60. Present at the service were the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, the Mayor, Mr Cameron, the president of the Otago South African War Veterans’ Association, Mr A. Duncan, the president of the Dunedin Returned Services’ Association, Mr A. J. H. Jeavons, Lieutenant-colonel F. Waite, and the area commander, Major E. J. Horwood. A well-attended smoke concert and reunion was held in the Crawford Lounge on Saturday evening, the president being in the chair. Toasts honoured included “ Kindred Associations” and “The Armed Services.” Replying to the latter toast, the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, made a statement on the defence policy of New Zealand, in which he stressed that if taxpayers wanted an augmented defence force they would have to be prepared to support it with increased taxation. Other guests included Messrs R. Walls M.P., W. A. Hudson, M.P., M. Connelly, M.L.C., the association’s chaplain, the Rev. L. D. C. Groves, the Mayor, and representatives of the Dunedin Returned Services’ Association, the 2nd N.Z.E.F. Association, the Homeservicemen’s Association, the Imperial Ex-servicemen’s Association, and the Ex-Royal Navalmen’s Association.