OUR SOLDIERS' DAY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2026, 12 August 1920, Page 18 (Supplement)

OUR SOLDIERS' DAY.

COMMEMORATION OF LANDING. ANZAC DAY TO_BE HOLY DAY. IFrom Onr Own Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, August 11. By the hon. members rising to sing a verse of the National Anthem, the Anzac Day Bill, which was introduced by Mr G. Mitchell (Wellington South) passed its second reading in the House of Bepresentatives to-night. The Private Member's Bill has been introduced at the request of the New Zealand Heturned Soldiers' Association, and is receiving the support of the Government. It proposes to set Anzac Day apart as a public holiday, to be observed in all respects as if it were a Sunday. By the wish of the soldier members of the House, the Bill was introduced by Mr Mitchell, who was with the New Zealand forces from the morning of the historic landing until they marched in victory to the Rhine.

• Outstanding Day in History. In moving the second reading, Mr Mitchell said that it might be argued that there were already too many public holidays, but, apart from Christmas and Easter, no day was more worthy to be observed as a holiday than April 25, the outstanding day in New Zealand's history. The soldiers were asking for this day to be dedicated to the memory of those who had made the great sacrifice, and who had secured the ■ safety of the Empire.. They asked that the day should be kept as one would keep a Sunday—that it should not be a day for an extra race meeting, or a day for jollification. Those men had fought, not to make a few men rich, but to make all men free. Seventeen thousand New Zealand graves were scattered over the battlefields of the world, yet no day was sacred to the memory of those glorious, men. Their comrades asked that this one day should be set aside. (Applause.) "Holy Day"—Not "Holiday.'.' The Prime Minister (Bt. Hon. W. F. Massey) said that he had very great pleasure in supporting the second reading of the Bill. He did not need to remind hon. members that, for quite a number of years past—even before the Armistice — he had been very strongly of opinion that a day should be set apart to celebrate the doings of their soldiers, their sailors and 'their airmen, in the Great War. He knew of no more suitable day than Anzac Day itself, and he felt pleased that that was the day that had been chosen by their soldiers. But it would be a day to celebrate not onlv the landing on Gallipoli—an exploit which had never been excelled and seldom equalled in the history of the world—-but also the other great exploits of the War. He hoped that it w,ould be held a "holy day" rather than a "holiday"—(Hear! Hear!) — and that the law would make it an offence to indulge, on that dav, in the sports which were perfectly in order, on other holidays. Anzac Day be a day of rejoicing for the victory which had been vouchsafed to their arms, for the spirit of their fighting men and their national helpers, and for the fact that the War had left them a free people and a great Empire—greater than ever before in their history. It should he a day of thanksgiving, too, and let them not forget the day of mourning for their gallant dead—for those hundreds of. thousands of British citizens, for the hundreds of thousands of their Allies, and, ruost of all, for the many thousands who had gone out from this country, never to come back. Those there were whose bodies lay in distant graves, but whose names would live for ever, and whose deeds would never be forgotten while the world lasted. "He hoped that it would be a dav when the story of Gallipoli would be told to the rising generation for all time, and „given as an example to. them in remembering, hot only their privileges as British citizens, but their duties too. They could follow that example by keeping the Empire intact, and by handing it on, greater, mightier and nobler than ever it had been in the past. (Applause.) Greater Than Independence Day. Mr L. M. Isitt (Christchurch North) said that he wanted to see this day a day free of every kind, and all shops, drinking bars and places of entertainment closed, to set all people free to pay a tribute to the great sacrifices and the great heroism. It would be a crime to the dead to let this day pass unhallowed, and a crime to those who would come after, too. He hoped to see this Anzac Day something even greater than Independence Day was to the United States. Mr T. E. Y. Seddon (Westland) said that the returned soldiers wished the day to be observed as a holy day. The doings of Anzac had been an inspiration to those of them who had gone out later. He suggested that the New Zealand monument on Gallipoli might be unveiled on next Anzac Day. Mr J. Craigie (Timaru) stressed the importance of observing the day in the schools. As the second reading was carried, the House, at the instance of the Prime Minister, stood, and those in the galleries followed the example. Mr Isitt led in the singing of the first verse of "God Save the King." The House rose immediately afterwards.