PEACE ANNIVERSARY

Taranaki Daily News, 13 November 1934, Page 7

PEACE ANNIVERSARY

ARMISTICE CEREMONIES KING VISITS CENOTAPH DISTURBANCE AT DUBLIN OBSERVANCE IN EUROPE By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, Nov. 11. Standing with bowed head at the Cenotaph, His Majesty the King embodied the reverence of the peoples of the Empire at the Armistice Day commemoration, which was as solemn and impressive as in previous years. The crowd included thousands of women mourning sons and husbands. Armistice Day is usually set aside as an occasion for the public sale of artificial poppies made by wounded exservicemen in aid of the funds of their organisation. Poppy Day took place today. Many thousands of voluntary workers were in the streets to sell the emblems, which were universally worn. All. day and far into the evening Londoners filed past the Cenotaph and visited the Unknown Warrior’s tomb and the Field of Remembrances. Sir James Parr, High Commissioner, placed a wreath on the Cenotaph on behalf of New Zealand. The Duke of Kent, marching in the British Legion procession, placed a wreath on the Stone of Remembrance at Edinburgh on behalf of the King. Another wreath was placed in commemoration of Lord Haig, whom the local, clergy extolled. The only place where a discordant note was sounded in the British Isles was in Dublin, where youths burned a Union Jack. Twelve were arrested. Republican ex-servicemen marched in protest against Imperialistic displays. OXFORD PROCESSION. The largest undergraduate peace demonstration yet held occurred in Oxford, where, after the ex-servicemen’s procession had ended, 1000 students marched. They were forbidden to bear banners, but trades unionists carried flags inscribed: “Scholarships, not Battleships.” At Washington (United States), President Roosevelt made his annual visit to the National Cemetery at Arlington. He placed a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. As it was a Sunday the legal holiday will be observed tomorrow, with veterans participating in the customary ceremonies throughout the country. Armistice Day observances, memorial services and peace demonstrations were held in many countries with fitting de-' votion. President Lebrun reviewed the garrison of Paris, where tension prevailed following the political crisis, but police and gardes mobiles prevented clashes, keeping parties of widely different political complexions in areas widely apart. A crowd greeted the homeward bound Ministerial cars with cheers for M. Doumergue, former Premier, and jeers for M. Herriot, leader of the’Radicals. Members of the Action Francaise (exservicemen), bearing a death mask of King Alexander of Yugoslavia, joined the Jeunesse Patriot© in a huge demonstration. FRENCH OFFICER REINSTATED. Colonel Couthard, aged 75, an officer of the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre, tearfully witnessed the Armistice Day ceremonies for the first time in his life, having been disgraced in 1917 for desertion at Verdun. The Appeal Court last night restored to him his rank and honours. The only hostile witness among the many favourable was the tottering General Lebocq, who passed the original sentence. He still questioned Colonel Couthard’s character and courage, but the court obviously disbelieved him. Colonel Oouthard left his post to report to headquarters the results of a ghastly gas and liquid flame attack, and was cashiered and imprisoned for five years. Crowds gathered in the .evening and cheered M. Doumergue, who appeared on the balcony of his flat. Twelve Communists were arrested for interrupting the Armistice Day ceremonies at Narbonne, and scuffles were suppressed at Lille. At Gibraltar guns thundering salvoes from the Rock began and ended the two minutes’ silence. Signor Mussolini reviewed the armed forces and young Fascist organisations in Rome. A parade of troops was held before the Polish President, Marshal Pilsudski, at Warsaw in celebration of the anniversary of Poland’s independence. A high tide that flooded St. Mark’s Square, Venice, to a deptl of two feet, confined celebrants to the churches. The King and Queen of Belgium, Burgomaster Max and thousands of allied ex-soldiers joined in the ceremonies at Brussels. British residents in Belgian towns attended special services. The citizens of Mons gave a civic reception to members of the Old Contemptibles’ Association. Serbian papers published long eulogies of gratitude for British and American assistance in the war time. ALBERT HALL SERVICE. A party of Old Contemptibles, 50 strong, some grey-haired and some surprisingly youthful, joined the steady tramp of thousands of members of the British Legion to the Armistice Day gathering in the Albert Hall, where the Prince of Wales stood at, attention, in the Royal box with Lord Jellicoe and Sir Frederick Maurice, while the exsoldiers gave cheer for cheer. They bore banners emblazoned with the names of Mons, Le Cateau, Armentieres, La Basse, the Marne and Ypres, Behind them came the standards of the Chelsea pensioners and the women’s services. The audiences sang an anthem and cheered pictures of Lord Jellicoe and Lord Ypres, and particularly of Lord Haig. Afterwards the Prince of Wales spoke in the darkness. Then followed Laurence Binyon’s Requiem for the Fallen. A shower of over 1,000,000 scarlet poppy petals, one in memory of each of the Empire’s dead, fluttered from the roof and rested on the bowed heads and shoulders of the survivors of the war. Drummers of the Irish Guards and trumpeters of the Life Guards sounded the Reveille.