At 1.30pm returned soldiers and South African veterans, headed by the Dunedin Pipe Band, marched by way of Princes and Stuart streets to Anzac square, where they were joined by the military section of the parade, which marched down the Highway to the Exhibition Sports Ground. After the soldiers and the veterans came detachments from the 5th New Zealand Mounted Rifles and the 12th and 14th Batteries and the 1st Battalion Otago Regiment, led by the Artillery Band, and followed by the 4th Regimental Band. After these came the High School and Technical College Cadets, and a detachment of Territorials in that order. At the Sports Ground the “General Salute” was played by the Cadets Bugle Band, the flag was broken, and the Rev Dr E.N. Merrrington CF led in prayer, after which the “Last Post” was sounded. A volley by the firing party and the “Reveille” brought this part of the service to a close.
The service
Some 5009 persons attended the memorial service at the Festival Hall. The music was provided by the band of the Second Battalion and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who opened the proceedings with an impressive rendering of Chopin’s Funeral March. The assembly then joined in the singing of Kipling’s “Recessional’’. The religious portion of the service was in the hands of the Revs Dr E.N. Herrington CF and W. Walker CF, and the address was delivered by the Rev E.J. Tipler CF. The Rev Dr J.R. Mott also briefly addressed those present. With the hall darkened and a spotlight only illuminating the stage, wreaths from local and public bodies and others were laid on the miniature cenotaph which had been erected on the stage, and at the conclusion of this ceremony Bugler Sergeant-major Napier played the “Last Post’’. — ODT, 26.4.1926
