THANKFUL TO GOD

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23280, 16 August 1945, Page 4

THANKFUL TO GOD

Mayor’s Victory Message “We are thankful to God for the strength He gave us to perform what once seemed an insuperable task; we remember His help to-day when the blight of Nazism and Fascism, which threatened to overwhelm our civilisation, has been destroyed.” stated the Mayor of Timaru (Mr A. E. S. Hanan) in a victory message to the citizens. “It is -with mingled feelings that we celebrate the victory of our arms against Japan,” he continued. “The flower of our young manhood have given their lives that we might see this day, the culmination of our hopes, our

aspirations and our sacrifices. The way has been long and dark, but the light of freedom has guided and sustained us in the war against barbaric enslavement. The price has been high, as many sorrowing hearts in New Zealand and elsewhere will testify, but we hope the sacrifice has not been in vain.

“If the peace that is to be made is formulated in a spirit of Christian charity and is. interpreted in a Christian way, then we have no need to fear for the future. Bounteous Nature will provide abundantly for all our needs if we but realise our personal, national and international responsibility. Let our hearts be hard against the causes of war and. when we have eliminated them, let the work of international rehabilitation be truly international in character that we maygive justice to all people. Justice is the foundation of lasting peace.

“In this our hour of rejoicing, let us pledge ourselves never to forget our dead.” concluded Mr Hanan. “Their lives were the price of our freedom, let us be worthy of this freedom. To all bereaved families let us extend our deep gratitude for the noble work so ably done by those who stood between us and the enemy.'