To commemorate the bravery of the troops on that occasion a partial holiday will be observed to-day throughout the dominion.
In Dunedin, owing to the interruption in business caused by the Easter holidays, only a portion of the afternoon will be observed.
Arrangements have been made for a procession of returned soldiers, including a number who took part in the famous landing.
It is hoped the public will line the streets in large numbers to give the men a fitting reception and afterwards attend in the Octagon to listen to the addresses.
In the evening there will be a united religious service in His Majesty's Theatre, and an "Anzac'' dinner will be held in the Early Settlers' Hall, under the auspices of the Returned Soldiers' Association.
• General Birdwood, in the course of an introduction written by him for the Anzac Book, produced by the men of Anzac in the closing weeks of 1915, and shortly to be published, says:
"It may be of interest to readers to hear the origin of the word ‘Anzac.'
"When I took over the command of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in Egypt a year ago, I was asked to select a telegraphic code address for my army corps, and then adopted the word 'Anzac.' Later on, when we had effected our landing here in April last, I was asked by General Headquarters to suggest a name for the beach where we had made good our first precarious footing, then asked that this might be recorded as 'Anzac Cove' - a name which the bravery of our men has now made historical, while it will remain a geographical landmark for all time.
"Our eight months at ‘Anzac' cannot help stamping in the memory of every one of us days of trial and anxiety, hopes, and perhaps occasional fears, rejoicings at success, and sorrow - very deep and sincere - for many a good comrade whom we can never see again . . .''
• Sir, - When Tuesday, April 25, was set apart for special observance as "Anzac Day'', the head of the Government (Mr Massey) intimated that it was desirable that that day should be a "holy day'' in the truest sense - not devoted to festivity, pleasure-seeking, and junketing, but rather as an occasion for the remembrance of our heroic dead, who on that day 12 months ago, in the historic landing on the Gallipoli beaches, performed a deed of valour unsurpassed in the annals of the world!
A right worthy attitude is this, and one that I am sure appeals to all that is best and highest in the community!
But how is such advice to be reconciled with the action of the Government in issuing "holiday excursion tickets'' on that day?
This looks like taking back with one hand what is given with the other, and is an action hardly calculated to produce the results for which Mr Massey is professedly anxious.
That the holiday excursions will be widely patronised is, I fear, only too likely - taking Good Friday as a precedent, - though the callous dancing on a new-made grave would not be more ghastly in my humble judgment. - I am, etc., H. B. Goertz, The Vicarage, Port Chalmers. - ODT, 25.4.1916.
