AVONSIDE'S SOLDIERS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 944, 19 February 1917, Page 9

AVONSIDE'S SOLDIERS.

I ROLL OF HONOUR UNVEILED. A new tablet bearing the names of Avonside men who have enlisted for ' active service was unveiled by his 'Excellency the Governor at Holy j Trinity Church, Avonside, at the (morning service yesterday. The congregation was large, and ; the devotional exercises were led by i I the Rev. 0. Fitzgerald. : At the conclusion of the second; I lesson the choir, clergy, and the Earl j of Liverpool proceeded to the tablet, (where the Governor, attired in the, ! uniform of a Colonel of the Rifle j 1 Brigade, performed the unveiling i j ceremony. | i The Rev. O. Fitzgerald preached : from a text drawn from the First I Book or Samuel, laying special stress I upon the words, "And there went j with him a band of men whose j hearts Cod had touched." The 'preacher said that he felt, and the \ British people felt, Bin the present war that they were lighting for a righteous and .just cause, and for that reason they were proud to see inscribed on tablets in the church I the names of 180 men who had gone fmm the Avonside Parish. Religion v, as not a minor consideration in this war, for war placed upon its ueoule and its fighting men not only

;i physical but also a mental and moral strain, and quoted historical episodes to show that Christian, Godfearing soldiers were the men for daring military enterprises, and also . the Duke of Wellington's famous ! words, that "the stronger sense of religion Ihe British soldier possesses j the better soldier he will be." The preacher also urged the ncces- ' sity for religion, care, and thoughlj fulness in the minds of those who j remained behind. Both the Church 'and the conftnunily needed men ' i whose hearts Cod had touched, men 'who, like our soldier heroes, "would | | play the game." He did not say that jpeople should renounce all pleasures. j They needed some recreation to enable them to hear the strain, but he [could not help wondering whether ;! people cared about our men's noble ! sacrifice when he saw crowds sland- ' ling awaiting their turn at the picture 'j theatres. Every man and woman i should remember the soldiers in ' ! their prayers.