ANZAC DAY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 May 1938, Page 6

ANZAC DAY

CHANGE IN OBSERVANCE PROPOSED

VIEWS OF MEMBERS OF R.S.A. CONTINGENT The opinion that Anzac Day should be observed in New Zealand more on the lines of its observance in Australia was expressed by members at the annual meeting of the Wairarapa Returned Soldiers’ Association last night. It was decided unanimously to forward the following recommendation to the next conference of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association: —“That this meeting considers that the future observance of Anzac Day in New Zealand should be more on the lines of its observance in Australia.” The matter was raised by Mr F. Brown, a member of the Anzac contingent, which visited Australia last month. In Australia, said Mr Brown, they honoured the fallen in the morning, and in the afternoon the men who had returned.

Matron Higginson, of Greytown, a member of the Nursing Division of the Anzac contingent, supported Mr Brown’s contention. The morning, she. said, was reserved for the memory of those who had “gone west,” and for the rest of the day, there was a great reunion of the “diggers" who had come back. It would be no use inviting the Australians over here in 1940, if the day was to be observed in its present form. “It would not be the same welcome as they gave us over there," said Miss Higginson. “I hope something will be done before 1940, she concluded.