ANZAC DAY

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 124, 20 May 1932, Page 3

ANZAC DAY

MOOTED ALTERATION OF DATE MEETS OPPOSITION OF R.S.A. At the annual meeting of the Waipukurau District Returned Soldiers’ Association last evening Mr C. E. Watson referred to a proposal, originating in Auckland, that Anzac Day should be obseived on the nearest Sunday. He thought the Association should pass a resolution objecting to the observance of the occasion, on any day other than April 25.

Mr. W. G. Cook supported Mr Watson, associating the name of Mr E. G. Dowrick, president of the Chamber of Commerce, with the protest. The President (Mr A. O. Williams) said that ho believed that there were points on both sides. “Tho objection to Anzac Day being observed on April 25 is that there is a tendency for some people to regard it as a holiday,” he said.

Mr T. Southall expressed the opinion that the occasion would lose something of its significance if it were held on a Sunday. Mr W. G. Cook. It would disappear altogether. Mr McCormick said that the number who attended the service at the memorial at Waipukurau last Anzac Day seemed a very small proportion of the population. “As Canon Rico said in his address, Anzac Day is becoming regarded as a holiday, ” he said.

Mr Townsend said that he had not noticed any tendency in that direction.

Mr Brathwaite also expressed the opinion that the date of observance should not be altered, although he did

not think it was a matter of very considerable importance. “By the time the present generation has passed,” he said, “I believe Anzac Day will be forgotten as other days such as Trafalgar Day have been forgotten.” A motion along the lines suggested by Mr Watson was finally carried.