WAR ANNIVERSARY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 208, 3 September 1943, Page 6

WAR ANNIVERSARY

NEW ZEALAND REAFFIRMS ITS PLEDGE (P.A.) Wellington, Sept. 2. “Four years ago to-day the people of New Zealand ranged themselves unhesitatingly alongside the Mother Country in declaring war against Germany. W’e did so with full knowledge of the fateful consequences of our decision, but with equal sureness that there was no other course if we were to survive as a nation and preserve the liberties and other moral values by which we guide our lives,” said the Prime Minister to-night in a statement on the anniverasry of the outbreak of war.

To-day, he added, our people faced the fifth year of war as staunch and indissolubly united as in September, 1939, heartened by the knowledge that the worst days were over and the United Nations were everywhere on the offensive with increasing strength. We had the satisfaction or knowing that we had amply fulfilled that historic pledge, in which the Rt. Hon. Michael Savage expressed the sentiments of the Government and people, a pledge which we renewed to-day in whole-hearted determination to fight on with all the strength and all the resources we possessed until final victory had been achieved. We were justly proud of the Dominion’s achievements over the past four years. It was a record which had won universal admiration. Never had New Zealand’s name and reputation stood higher than among the democratic nations to-day.

Mr. Fraser said it was his privilege as Prime Minister to express the Government’s admiration for and gratitude to our forces on land and sea and in the air. wherever they might be, for the courageous and magnificent service they rendered for New Zealand, for the British Commonwealth, and for the United Nations.

“I take this opportunity of acknowledging also the splendid co-operation of the people in building up and maintaining the nation’s war effort, both in the fields of battle and in the fields and factories of production. The past four years of war have brought great changes in the lives of all of us. W’e have known defeats and faced the consequences with stout hearts and resolute will. Many have known the bitterness of the deaths of sons, husbands and friends. We are not the same people we were four years ago, but we have. I believe become a greater and a finer people in these four years. There have likewise ben changes in the lives of all the nations, apart from the sorrows and the horrors of war. New Zealand experiences have changed conditions, deeper friendships have wrought a new world, and to look back with longing at the old would be as unreal as it would be disastrous. New Zealand has made new bonds of friendship firmly tied in the common struggle, and we have at the same

time made more secure those Jinks of blood and tradition which are an essential part, of our heritage.* Such changes and adjustments cannot cease with peace now in sight, though at the end of a hard road ' still to be travelled. In that, peace, based on justice and, we trust, on the wise conceptions of the Atlantic Charter. New Zealand has by its own endeavours and by the efforts of its fighting men earned a right to make its voice heard. The record of achievement which Is behind us will not blind anyone to the enormous tasks which loom ahead. Rather must it be a challenge to continue the fight for justice and freedom against, fear and want.

"Our experiences have without doubt prepared us to meet the new demands of a new world—a world in which New Zealand will take its rightful place as a country bent upon pursuing the peaceful ways of ordered progress and people by men and women who realise that reconstruction, wisely planned and wholeheartedly carried out, will render the dearly-won victories enduring and complete.”

MESSAGE TO CHURCHILL AND ROOSEVELT (P.A.) Wellington, Sept. 2. The following message was sent by the Hon. P. Fraser to Mr. Winston Churchill on the anniversary of the war: “For four years we have fought shoulder to shoulder, sharing alike defeat and victory. These fateful years have strengthened still further the cherished bonds of blood and friendship which links us with the people of Britain. With victory in sight, though we know further great sacrifices lie ahead, we welcome this anniversary to express to you our gratitude for the confidence and trust you have breathed into our common cause and to reaffirm our pledge to continue to fight on with all our strength and all our resources until victory has been won throughout the world.” Mr. Fraser also sent ihe following message to President Roosevelt: “On the fourth anniversary of the war, which New Zealand entered to preserve those basic principles of justice, with the people of the United States, I take the opportunity to express our deep sense of value of the help the United States has rendered to the cause of the United Nations, and in particular our debt to your great leadership. Side by side with the forces of the United States and the other United Nations, this Dominion will continue to apply all its strength and resources towards the achievement of full and final victory.”