ROUND ABOUT WELLINGTON

Otago Witness, Issue 3764, 4 May 1926, Page 38

ROUND ABOUT WELLINGTON

By

PENCARROW.

(Specially Written for thz Witness.) Thursday. Undenominational services were held on Sunday in memory of the gallant dead. This was Anzac Day, the eleventh anniversary. Solemn were the scenes, impressive the services, affecting the incidents. The cenotaph is still temporary, but th* idea is permanent, the tradition immortal. Opposite the Government Buildings thousands gathered for the most representative service of the day. The white cenotaph on the green strip of lawn was softened and made beautiful with a wealth of gorgeous flowers. Every organisation in the city was represented. Naval ratings assisted returned soldiers and others to keep back the crowd from the enclosure, where the officiating clergy and representative officers and public men stood. The Prime Minister laid his wreath most reverently at the base of the cenotaph, among the thousand others which were placed in memory of men who were his comrades. Obviously he, too, remembered that These flung the world away, poured out the red Sweet wine of life, gave up the years to be Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene, That men call age; and those who would have been Their sons, they gave their immortality. Colonel M‘Kenzie, M.C., formerly chaplain with the Australian forces, spoke tlie message of the day, told again the story of that landing, and reminded the rising generation that the flower and beauty of our manhood passed over in the Great War. He spoke of ideals and of our heritage, and the spirit of sacrifice and service, of our duty to God and man. His was a moving and inspiring address. The usual solemn rites were observed, the “Dead March” played by the Artillery Band, and the “Last Post” sounded before the National Anthem and benediction. Though many present wore mourning for their dead, there were among the assembled multitude hundreds, perhaps thousands, who were so young eleven years ago that they do not remember ’-cry clearly the father or the uncle who returned no more. They shed tears, not for the definite relative or friend, but for the beauty of it all, the sentiment, the idea. They paid their tribute, and if those who are gone need no such tears, yet those who pay tribute and give of their generous emotion are blessed in the giving. They must be better men and women because those great deeds were done. Down that street not so many years ago their forbears passed. They marched. Wc sec them still, and the proud fathers who marched abreast till the gates of the wharf were reached and farewell said. We shed so many tears in those days that some of us believed we could never weep again—but memory stirs. “In memory of two gallants sons—from Mother.” Few could regard that simple wreath and remain unmoved. There were many such with the gorgeous more official tributes, including one from Zanc Grey. Its red African daisies made it very noticeable and beautiful. The war is over, but not its pain. We may count our dead, but the broken hearts and hopes never can be numbered. On the afternoon of Anzac Day there was a service in the Town Hull. The place was packed. Canon Fieldcn Taylor was in command. He spoke of Empire. At the conclusion of a very beautiful and moving address he reminded those wlio had gathered to show honour and respect to the dead that their sacrifice can best be remembered by the preservation of our honour in national and private life. There was a parade of naval and military forces, too, on Sunday afternoon, the

first of its kind held here on Anzac Day. Four thousand troops in the Basin Reserve held a service of commemoration. Officers and the rank and tile of H.M.S. Dunedin and Diomede headed one of the splendid columns which faced the packed grand stand. They say that over twelve thousand people had gathered for this event, which was most impressive. Later the troops marched through the city to the cenotaph. Every soldier's grave in the Karori cemetery was visited on Anzac Day by members of the Women's National Reserve. Veterans of previous wars, soldiers of tlie Maori Wars, men who served in the Boor War and have died in Wellington, all were remembered, and “on every grave were flowers, all red and golden.” It was a wonderful piece of work most faithfully accomplished. Now the solemn pause is over. The memory of those days is sad, but very precious, especially to those who withered and agonised through the years of war. Our wa» memorial is still unbuilt, but the funds are there. Its form is not yet decided upon, save that it must be silent and symbolical. Meanwhile, those who urged it should be a carillon are going ahead with a plan which will be an additional and beautiful memorial. Individuals will probably give the individual bells, and there is to be a hall of memorial wherein the names of those who fell will be enshrined. I understand that the site for the carillon is yet *o be determined. Saturday. Tli Governor-General's suggestion that a Sunshine League shall be established in Auckland for brightening the lives of inmates in the mental hospitals and other institutions is peculiarly interesting to some Victorian College students, among many others, for the Social Service Club, in connection with the local University College, has undertaken that particular responsibility in the Wellington district for some considerable time. Every Saturday afternoon some students go out to Porirua, where they visit patients in the mental hospital who have neither friends nor property. There arc others, too, whose custom it is to be kind to these, tlie saddest of all invalids, but the work of the students and other individual visitors can only be a drop in the ocean. His Excellency's suggestion to the Rotary Club in Auckland will probably be adopted by the kindly people of Wellington, wlio are ever ready to extend a helping hand, and will probably lie glad to investigate Tie work of the Hamilton Sunshine League, which has attracted the attention of his Excellency the Governor-General and won his warm approval. We have had a most successful chrysanthemum show in the Town Hall, which, to use a hackneyed phrase as a “riot of colour,” and very remindful of our esteemed Japanese friends. This reminds one that the Chinese of Wellington have put forth a plea for their existence, pointing out how very useful they are, and reminding us that the honest European working man does not take kindly to market gardening. Whoever drew up the special pleading is an artist. It exudes the milk of human kindness, and gently draws attention to the fact that this is a Christian, and, therefore, presumably, a charitable country. It also speaks of opium, which the Chinese themselves did not originally import into their country. Capping Day draws near. We arc reminded of the same event last year, when a very few individuals in the Varsity procession brought disgrace on the whole college. Last year the Vice-Chancellor, too, warned the students that the graduates would be capped in private if ever again the rowdy minority made a farce of the proceedings. It is hoped and believed that all will be well this year.