It’s not forgetting, it’s not learning

Thousands of allied soldiers are buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium.

It was visited by King George V in 1922, who said:

We can truly say that the whole Circuit of the earth is girded with the graves of our dead. In the course of my pilgrimage I have many times asked myself whether there can be more potent advocates of peace upon earth through the years to come than this massed multitude of silent witnesses to the desolation of war.

One exhortation on Anzac Day is lest we forget.

The problem isn’t that we forget, it’s not learning in spite of  all the witnesses, silent or not, to the desolation of war.

Rural round-up

#standatdawn @TheCountry @TheMusterShow pic.twitter.com/Qi7YdtqLDU

— Dean Rabbidge 🧢🐑🐄🦌🐂🏉🚜 (@deanrabbidge) April 23, 2021

Very special to be up on a hill this morning above the Canterbury Plains to see a WW1 Veteran Krupp fieldgun fire a 3 round salute at dawn by it’s guardian. #LestWeForget pic.twitter.com/h9HPyfDLC0

— Duncan Humm (@duncanyzf20) April 24, 2021

Rural round-up

Permission for private land hunting essential, Feds says:

Clarification of what hunting will be permitted after we move to COVID-19 Alert 3 is helpful, Federated Farmers says, but it is essential the hunters get permission to access private land.

“It’s good to have clarity on the rules that will apply, and that the government is continuing to strike a good balance between a planned return to where we were while keeping the risk of spread of the virus to a minimum,” Feds rural security and firearms spokesperson Miles Anderson said.

The government announced today that recreational hunting for big and small game will be allowed under Level 3 on private land only.   But, as has always been the case, hunters must gain the landowner’s permission. . . 

China’s wild meat clampdown affecting NZ venison exports :

New Zealand venison farmers are being caught out by the Chinese government’s moves to clamp down on the trade of wild meat.

The confusion has prompted some processors here to hold off shipping venison to the country.

China has been tightening its rules on the trade of wild meat in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak, which is thought to have originated in a wild-animal market in Wuhan.

Silver Fern Farms chief executive Simon Limmer said despite the venison it processes and exports being a farmed product, not a wild one, there had been some clearance issues for shipments to the country. . . 

Farmers offer rural salute to Anzacs with hay bale poppies – Esther Taunton:

Paddocks around New Zealand have been peppered with giant poppies as the country prepares for a very different Anzac Day. 

With official services cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions, Kiwis are coming up with new ways to salute the fallen from the safety of their bubbles.

In rural areas, the humble hay bale has taken a starring role in commemorations, with oversized poppies springing up on farms across the country.

Southland farmer David Johnston said his family had been attending Anzac Day commemorations for years. . .

Poppy building on a sunny Southland day @SupportRural @TheMusterShow @TheCountry pic.twitter.com/TaMh8NE8Fw

— Dean Rabbidge 🧢🐑🐄🦌🐂🏉🚜 (@deanrabbidge) April 23, 2020

Whatever it is called, Gypsy Day will go ahead this year and cows will be mooved – but under strict COVID-19 controls – Point of Order:

Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor eschewed the words “Gypsy Day”, in a press statement yesterday that addressed dairy farmers’ concerns about what would happen on June 1.  He preferred “Moving Day” and said Moving Day will go ahead as planned this year, but with strict controls to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Reporting this news, Farmers Weekly explained that Moving Day is also known as Gypsy Day and occurs on June 1 each year when many dairy farming families, sharemilkers, contract milkers and employees move to new farms to start new jobs and milking contracts.

Yet another expression was incorporated in a Federated Farmers press statement headline on April 9:  GYPSY / MOOVING DAY. . .

‘Stunner’ vintage forecast in harvest like no other – Kerrie Waterworth:

Vineyard owners and winemakers are predicting this year’s vintage will be a ‘‘stunner’, which could be the silver lining to a harvest like no other.

Almost all the 170 vineyards represented by the Central Otago Winegrowers Association have started picking their grapes, but this year the pickers have had to abide by Alert Level 4 restrictions.

Maude Wines winemakers Dan and Sarah-Kate Dineen, of Wanaka, said it had made the harvest a more expensive and sombre affair.

‘‘Usually, it is a time to celebrate — we feed our crew well and they all dine together — but we have to change all that because of social distancing,’’ Mr Dineen said. . .

Horizons Ballance Farm Environment Awards winners praise NZGAPS approach to compliance:

Woodhaven Gardens, the 2020 Regional Supreme Winner at the Horizons Ballance Farm Environment Awards, are fans of how New Zealand Good Agriculture Practice’s (NZGAP) Environmental Management System (EMS) ‘add-on’ makes compliance more straight forward.

‘I see the EMS process as the way of the future. After going through the process, it is very clear that this is the path for the industry to go,’ says Woodhaven Gardens’ Jay Clarke.

The EMS ‘add-on’ complements a grower’s regular NZGAP audit, by including Farm Environment Plans (FEPs) in the suite of tools that NZGAP offers. FEPs are a way for growers to map their property and identify hazards to calculate their environmental footprint, and record improvements over time. . . 

Aberdeen Angus :: Negros y Colorados.#AngusLaRaza #AngusUruguay
📸Federico Fernández pic.twitter.com/KU1jSW6ZPa

— Angus Uruguay (@AngusUruguay) April 21, 2020

Wattie’s in Canterbury completes a busy pea and bean season like no other:

Wattie’s completed its 24/7 pea and bean harvesting and processing season last Friday under conditions not previously experienced in its 50 year history of operating in Hornby, due to the restrictions imposed by COVID-19 protocols.

Like every other business operating essential services, Wattie’s field and factory staff based in Christchurch had to adapt quickly to the strict protocols developed in response to the Ministry of Primary Industry’s requirements.

Graham Broom, the Site Manager for Wattie’s in Hornby, said without question, everyone understood the reasons for the changes in our operations, but the new work practices added significantly to people’s workloads during an already busy time, particularly in the factory. . . 

Sweet charity – Bonnie Sumner:

The director of a South Island honey company is donating 21,000 jars of manuka honey to food banks – and he wants other companies to follow his example, writes Bonnie Sumner.

It’s only money, honey.

At least, that’s how Steve Lyttle of 100% Pure New Zealand Honey in Timaru is looking at it.

Due to a labelling mistake, ten tonnes’ worth of his company’s manuka honey mixed with blueberry cannot be exported as planned. . . 

 

Remembering

Eight oaks line the road on the outskirts of Enfield. Another grows in the grounds of what was the school.

Under each is a stark, white cross on which is the name of a man who was killed in WWI.

Other such trees line Severn Street on State Highway 1 in Oamaru and more are planted through the town and district,

 . . .this living memorial is being cherished by the North Otago community. The men are not forgotten. Their memory is literally implanted in the landscape of Oamaru and North Otago.

Saturday soapbox

Saturday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

Lest we forget.

Stand at Dawn at dawn

Anzac Day dawn will give us another opportunity to unite, separately:

People are encouraged to join virtual commemorations on ANZAC day as Covid-19 lockdown continues in the country.

Initiated by the New Zealand Defence Force and the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association, the Stand At Dawn campaign calls for New Zealanders worldwide to take a moment to remember fallen servicemen.

People can join at 6am on 25 April by standing at their letterbox, front door, lounge rooms or other places while staying within their bubble.

They can tune into RNZ National, listen live on the internet for the official dawn service broadcast commencing at 6am.

Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short said Anzac Day was an important day of commemoration for many New Zealanders, particularly for serving and ex-serving personnel and their families.

“Anzac Day is a day for remembering service and sacrifice in conflict, and the strength that comes from working together to overcome adversity,” he said.

“This year, more than ever, we need to draw on the many qualities that the enduring Anzac spirit has taught us; mateship, endurance, good humour, ingenuity and courage.”

He encouraged veterans, service personnel, families and the wider public to engage with the Stand at Dawn campaign. . .

I support the idea but point out that dawn dawns at different times as we move from north to south.

The suns isn’t even thinking about rising at 6am in North Otago and in the normal course of events Dawn Services are held at 7am because of that.

Prudence or panic?

Anzac Day services have been cancelled in Auckland and the Queenstown parade has been cancelled though other events in the south will go ahead.

The RSA in Christchurch is determined that services will continue as normal.

The cancellations have come on police advice although there don’t appear to be any specific threats.

The attack on the Christchurch mosques showed us that New Zealand is no more safe from terror attacks than anywhere else, but are the decisions to cancel some Anzac Day services and a parade prudence or panic?

I was in London in 1982 when IRA bombs in Hyde and Regents Park  killed eight people and injured many more.

Life went on as normal afterwards just as it had after all the other IRA bombing campaigns.

If there are known threats in the wake of the March 15 atrocities we should be told, if there are not we ought to carry on as we would normally do.

. . . If the only reason the police are still carrying highly visible firearms at public events, and curtailing Anzac Day observances, is to provide “reassurance” for the community, it might be time for them to think again. Terrorism succeeds when a community is afraid to go about its normal life. There is no sign of that sort of fear among the general public and no reason there would be. One man stands accused of the murders in Christchurch and police are confident he acted alone. . . .

Life will never be the same for those directly affected by the mosque attacks.

It will never be quite the same for the rest of us either but if there are no known threats, the terrorist wins if we live in fear.

Oh Valiant Hearts

Mr Scott, the music teacher at Oamaru Intermediate School was a returned service man.

We might not have appreciated the stories he told of World War II but we took his preparations for Anzac Day seriously and approached the service with the solemnity it was due.

Among the songs he taught us was Oh Valiant Hearts, words written by John Arkwright and Charles Harris, music by Edward Hopkins, and sung here at Menim Gate by Emma Brown.

Lest we forget

Anzac Day is not for celebrating war but for commemorating those who served that we might have peace.

Anzac Day is not for judging the actions of yesterday by today’s standards and knowledge, but for learning from mistakes.

Anzac Day is not for resurrecting old enmities but for repairing relationships.

Anzac Day is not for forgetting but for forgiving.

Anzac Day is not for hate but for healing.

Anzac Day is not for glorifying war but for glorying in peace.

 

 

The other side

Last year we went to Germany in search of the farm my farmer’s great-grandfather left in the 1800s.

He and his brother left to avoid conscription during the Prussian warand never returned.

We found the farm and in the village close by we came across a war memorial on which there were the names of those who had died in World Wars I and II.

Among the names was the German version of Ludemann.

He could have been fighting Ludemanns from New Zealand and Australia who were related to him.

It brought home to me the arbitrary nature of life and death and the tragedy of war which pits ordinary people against other ordinary people who are on one side or the other because of where they happened to be at a time and place.

Today, on Anzac Day, we rightly remember and honour those who served with the allies at home and abroad and especially those wounded or killed.

But at this distance from the awfulness of those wars and in the hope of peace, it’s not inappropriate to also remember that there were people like us on the other side.

8/10

8/10 in NZ History’s Anzac Day quiz.

Anzac Day

 

Hat tip: NZ Young Nats.

One earns the other spends

The contrast between National and Labour could hardly have been greater this week.

Speeches by ministers at the National Party conference outlined policies for economic growth and emphasised the need to spend public funds carefully.

Then Labour promotes Private Members’ Bills to extend Paid Parental Leave, increase the minimum wage and Mondayise holidays for Waitangi and Anzac Days should they fall on the weekend.

National’s policies acknowledge the difficult international economic climate and that we have to earn before we can spend.

Labour’s show its priority is spending and it has no idea about earning.

The Mondayising of Waitangi and Anzac Days is the least expensive of the measures Labour is promoting. It would be needed only once every seven years and businesses cope with the holidays every other year.

I don’t have strong feelings about whether or not Waitangi Day is Mondayised, but I do agree with the RSA on Anzac Day:

The RSA policy has always been to preserve the special nature of Anzac Day. The National Executive Committee of the RSA has given this issue very serious consideration and we do not support this legislative change,” says National President Don McIver.

“We would always want to see Anzac Day commemorations fall on 25 April and not on the nearest week day and we understand the proposed bill will preserve that arrangement.”

“However, we are seriously concerned that to allow a holiday long weekend when Anzac Day falls within a weekend will take the focus away from our most solemn day of commemoration in memory of the sacrifice of New Zealanders for their nation and, instead, turn attention towards the holiday itself.”

“We are concerned that this will trivialise the true intent of this very special day of national commemoration.”

Anzac Day isn’t a celebration but a commemoration. If it falls on a week day people have had a day off to remember the sacrifices of the people who fought for peace, it’s not supposed to be just another holiday.

No-one disputes the demands new babies place on families and the importance of parent-child bonding. But I have yet to see a good argument why paid parental leave should be publicly funded, especially when not only isn’t it means tested but it also pays more to wealthy earners than poorer ones.

As for increasing the minimum wage – that’s just another example of Planet Labour’s distance from the real world where, as National knows, the best way to increase all wages is through economic growth.

On Planet Labour it’s all about spending, in the real world National knows only when we’re earning our way can we have choices about spending.

Values not just for Anzac Day

Quote of the day:

. . . If honour and duty and service and responsibility and courage and unity were values championed every day, this would be a happier, more harmonious and stronger nation.

Rediscovering that language is not just an opportunity for the leaders of our main political parties, it’s an obligation.

If we want a new focus, it’s easily found. The values of Anzac Day are there, waiting. We just need to be brave enough to rediscover them. Age does not weary those values – it’s the rest of the year that condemns us. Jim Hopkins

We will remember them

The Maheno war memorial  records the names of 42 men who died in WWI, a plaque at the entrance to the reserve records the names of those who died in WWII.

Each Anzac Day people gather at this and other similar memorials around the country to remember.

At this morning’s service about 40 people from young children to the elderly came.

One young woman paid tribute to her grandfather, a returned service man who was there.

I’d been asked to give the address. I said:

On Anzac Day we remember and revere heroes and  acts of extraordinary bravery.

Today we also remember and pay tribute to the ordinary people who answered the call, who served and sacrificed, overseas and at home.

One of those was a young Scot who came to New Zealand to work in the Haka Valley during the depression.

He joined the Otago Mounted Rifles as a territorial. When war broke out the following year he enlisted with the 20th Battalion and served with them in Egypt and Italy. 

He was badly burnt when a tank exploded and spent a fortnight in a saline bath. He was also taken prisoner but managed to escape and find his way back to allied troops. He was one of the soldiers described by Battalion commander Jim Burrows as those magnificent men after the break out from Minquar Qaim.

He didn’t talk much about what the war was like – but a photo illustrates it: It shows him with four others from a company of 120 who started the battle of Ruweisat Ridge. These five were the only ones left for the survivor’s parade at the battle’s end.

When his active service finished after the Battle of Casino, he stayed with the New Zealand army and was posted to London as a driver.

While he was away, she was serving at home.

When war broke out she began working a night a week at casualty and also attended first aid classes.

In 1943 she was called up by the army and posted to Trentham.

The new recruits were met by a sergeant at the Wellington ferry terminal who issued their uniforms: men’s greatcoats, battle dress, rain coats and boots. They then continued by train to Trentham where they found their new homes were unlined huts some distance from the ablutions. It wasn’t unusual to wake on winter mornings to find flowers frozen in the vases.

Her duties at the camp hospital included polishing. Everything had to be ready for inspection by the matron and colonel in charge.

The volunteer aides were called on for injection parade and after receiving their own jabs were expected to look after the men receiving theirs.

These two people were my parents. When the war ended Dad returned to New Zealand to take up a rehab apprenticeship as a carpenter and Mum trained as a nurse.

Their service to their country and community continued throughout their lives through the church, a variety of voluntary organisations and in many informal ways, typical of their generation.

It is easy when headlines are so full of the ills of the world to think that younger people don’t have the same selflessness.

But last night the RSA gave the award of Anzac of the Year to the Student Volunteer Army, reminding us that the youth of today can and do put others before self.

These young men and women are of similar ages to the people we remember today. The ones who gave so much in war that we might live in peace.

We haven’t been called to serve as our parents, grandparents and great grandparents were, but we owe it to them and the future for which they fought to do what we can to make the world a better place in big ways or small.

We can’t all be heroes but we can all serve.

Lest we forget

. . .  After the hymn the captain up on the dais asks us to bow our heads and in a low sonorous voice he reads out the roll of honour, the names of those from this district who paid the supreme sacrifice. ‘Adamson, Brown, Baker, Hammond . . .’

Listening intently, I catch my breath as I realise most of these names are familiar int he district still. ‘McInnes, Munro, Munro, Polaski, Rowe  . . .’ And some lost sons in both world wars! After the roll of Honour the Shire President from Moreton gives a short address and lays a wreath of flowers at the base of the memorial. Some people from the crowd step up and do the same. Then all the old diggers file past the memorial, each halting for a moment to stand before it with head reverently bowed, hand across his heart. And as I watch them, suddenly in my mind’s ey a vision comes to me of these old men young again, and strong, marching off to war in the full flush of their youth. I glance at Edward beside me and a chill runs through me to the very bone.

When the old soldiers (and one of two younger ones – presumably Vietnam vets) have all filed past we are asked to turn and face the flag behind. Someone from the crowd clicks on a tape recorder set up on the tray of a battered ute parked nearby and as the wind gusts around our ankles the achingly evocative notes of The Last Post ring out in the morning air, and by the time another old differ standing beside the flagpole has slowly and reverently lowered the flag, then raised it once more, I am quite unable to stop the flow of tears from coursing down my cheeks.

  Judge of the nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget, lest we forget!

From For Better, For Worse and For Lunch by Christina Hindhaugh.

SVA Anzac of Year

The Student Volunteer Army has been named RSA Anzac of the Year in recognition of its significant contribution to the Christchurch community in the wake of the earthquakes.

It is the first time the award, which recognises the efforts of New Zealanders who exemplify the Anzac qualities of comradeship, compassion, courage and commitment, has been given to non-military personnel or to more than one person. . .

. . . The Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association Anzac of the Year Award was established in 2010 to recognise the spirit of Anzac evident in New Zealanders today and is awarded for a single act or for significant service to New Zealanders or the international community.

The spirit of Anzac is embodied in the 1915 story of New Zealand Gallipoli hero Private Richard Henderson and the donkey where the qualities of comradeship, compassion, courage and commitment were exemplified in his service.

The aim of the Award is to recognise the efforts and achievements of an outstanding New Zealander, or New Zealanders, who have given service in a positive, selfless and compassionate manner.

How fitting the award is going not to an individual but a group and that the people in the group are the age that many of those who served in the armed forces during the wars would have been.

 

 

It’s the cause that counts

A charity which spent more than it needed to on a token which shows people have donated to it would be criticised for getting its priorities wrong.

But when the RSA decided to get its Anzac poppies made in Australia from Chinese materials because it was cheaper than the ones it had been getting from a workshop staffed by people with disabilities in Christchurch, people objected.

Some are still objecting:

RSA Queenstown president and Vietnam War veteran David Geddes said yesterday RSA members “were surprised at the depth of  feeling” about Chinese poppies, which are identical to those  made in New Zealand.   

      “Some collectors were abused … and we find that quite sad.   

      “People were saying they shouldn’t be touching stuff from China. I find it quite offensive to the Chinese people who live and work here.   

      “We found it very disappointing because people are losing sight about what the poppy is about – remembrance.”   

Money raised from the sale of poppies goes to provide for war veterans and their families, it is not to subsidise New Zealand jobs no matter how worthy they are.

But at least some of this appalling behaviour appears, like some of the opposition to the Crafar farms sale, not to the poppies being made elsewhere but specifically to them being made in China.

One of the things those we remember on Anzac Day fought and died for was tolerance. How sad that too many forget.

 

Holidays and holy days

Few, if any, of our public holidays could truly be described as holy days for most people; but if one day is still regarded as sacred for many it is Anzac Day.

This is one of the reasons Prime Minister John Key has not shown great enthusiasm for the idea of Mondayising it when it falls on a weekend, or, as it does this year when it coincides with Easter Monday, another holiday.

Mr Key said the idea was complicated by emotive and pay issues.

For a start off, Anzac Day is here to commemorate those who went and fought for freedom and democracy in New Zealand. Are we just saying any old day will count?”

I don’t think any day should count for Anzac Day.

It doesn’t for Christmas which most people observe on December 25th regardless of which day of the week that happens to fall on.

I can understand how employees feel short changed that 2 of the 11 public holidays fall on weekends this year – although not why Labour only find it’s a problem now they’re not in government.

But I also understand the reluctance to move commemoration away from the actual date, especially as it could then start a move to make the nearest Monday the holiday to make a long weekend every year.

The other problem is pay rates.

When the 25th and/or 26th are on weekends, the public holiday, when time and a half pay rates and a day in lieu apply go to those who work on the Monday not Christmas or Boxing Day.

I think – and please correct me if I’m wrong – that  means someone works Christmas Day for ordinary Saturday or Sunday pay but someone else gets Christmas Day off and works Monday at holiday rates.

If there is to be any change for Anzac and Waitangi Days, rather than Mondayising the holiday, the Monday should be Saturday or Sundayised.

That way the commemoration stays on the date and people who work on that day get holiday pay. But the following Monday is like the ordinary weekend day that was missed ie a day off but without penal rates for those who work or holiday pay for those who don’t.

Has anyone noticed . . .

 . . .  that everyone now has at least four weeks holiday?

In the lamenting over Waitangi Day falling on Sunday and Anzac Day on Easter Monday which means no day off for a public holiday until Queen’s Birthday in June,*  no-one seems to remember there’s now an extra week’s annual leave.

Providing employers agree that could be taken as a whole or in part which could include as  a Monday tacked on to any weekend to make it a long one.

* Unless as Credo Quia Absurdum notes you live in Southland. There, and here in Otago, Anniversary Day is officially the Monday nearest March 23rd but is often taken on the Tuesday after Easter or at any other date convenient to employer and employee.