GRAVES OF SOLDIERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 102, 2 May 1929, Page 22

GRAVES OF SOLDIERS.

EXAMPLE OF WELLINGTON. CITIZENS' VALUABLE GIFTS. WHAT OF WAIKUMETE ? A lady called on the secretary of the Returned Soldiers' Association (Mr. E. H. Sharp) a few days ago and offered to present for use in beautifying the environs of soldiers' graves a number of trees which she had grown in her garden from cuttings obtained while visiting her son's grave on Gallipoli. The caller remarked that she had also made a pilgrimage to the cemeteries in France where Isew Zealand soldiers were resting, and the thought had occurred to her that the authorities in Auckland might care to do something more in the way of improving the plots which contain the graves of soldiers at Waikumete. When the matter was mentioned at the annual meeting of the Returned Soldiers' Association on Tuesday evening a committee was appointed to report on ways and means of carrying out improvements. For the information of the association Mr. Sharp has obtained an interesting outline of what has been done in Wellington. In that city a memorial cemetery committee was established quite early in the war to make arrangements about graves other than those containing the remains of soldiers whose funerals were arranged by the Government? The committee consisted of members of the Women's National Reserve under the presidency of Mrs. Mathew Holmes and having Captain Vine as a link with Base Records. In response to a request from the committee the City Council readily allocated a special portion at the Karori Cemetery for soldier burials. This portion, since added to, was laid out according to a plan provided by the City Council,. and the work was done by council employees. Trees, shrubs and plants were presented in generous measure by nurserymen of the Wellington district and a fund was formed for the purchase of annuals. The plantings have produced a very beautiful effect.

Gifts as Memorials. Setting a worthy example by donating marble seats, the Women's National Reserve encouraged further valuable donations. A lady donated a sun-dial in memory .of her husband; another lady gave marble steps leading to it, as a memorial to her son and his friends; still another gave a set of wide marble steps for general use in memory of her son and his comrades; a wife and mother who had suffered a double loss gave a lych-gate, and other gifts came from various clubs. Special places are being kept at Karori for an Altar of Remembrance and for a j Cross of Sacrifice, and reminders are periodically sent to the Government by way of suggesting that the cemetery will not be completely in line with cemeteries overseas until these important additions are made. From time to time commemoration trees have been planted, and last year the poppies sent from England were made into a beautiful wreath to be framed and glassed and placed in the centre of a grass plot prepared by the R.S.A. Activities of Committee. In the case of a soldier who had died as the result of war injuries the headstone is provided by the State. In other cafces the committee approaches the relatives and where there is poverty headstones are provided from a special fund. The Government pays £80 per annum towards the cost of gardening and the City Council does the remainder. The cemetery is controlled conjointly by throe authorities—the Government, the City Council and . the Women's National Reserve Memorial Committee. Every Saturday the W.N.R. girls' club' places fresh flowers in the receptacles on the central grass plot and assistance is given by school girls and girl guides. A member of the committee attends every funeral of a former soldier. "If we can get a similar scheme going in Auckland," said Mr, Sharp, "I feel sure'that valuable memorial gifts will be forthcoming, and it should be only a matter of time before the soldiers' area at Waikumete is looking as beautiful as that at Karori."