SOLDIERS' GRAVES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2880, 19 September 1916, Page 3

SOLDIERS' GRAVES

MEN WHO HAVE DIED IN NEW ZEALAND CAMI'S. The question of taking carc of the graves of the soldiers who havo died in the Trcnthain Camp has been brought under notice by Airs. Boden, honorary secretary of tho Returned Soldiers' Hostel Committee. Mrs. Boden writes, enclosing a letter which she has received lrour Caplain Vmc. Tho lettei is as follows;— Dear Madam, —I take the liberty of addressing a few lines to you in the liopo that I. will be able to.awaken in the minds of some ol' the ladies engaged in patriotic work in Wellington interest in a matter that seems to havo, up to the preseut, escaped the notice oi everyone. The list of fallen New Zealanders contains the names of sev, eral who have made the supreme saeri flee in camp at Trentham, and whoso remains now lie in the cemetery at lva. rori. Tho majority of these fallen sol. diers are the sons of parents who are resident beyond New Zealand, and this being so, the care of their graves in tho absence of relatives is a matter which is possibly regarded as nobody's business. This, to my ,mind, is not as it should be, especially when it is rcmem. bcrcd that the men referred to died doing their duty as soldiers of the Empire.' What I havo to suggest is that the care of these graves be made tha responsibility of one or other of the committees engaged in patriotic work. It may bo that a sum of money will be required to be raised to meet the expense of placing a concrete edging round tho grave plots and for tlie'erets tion of a suitable headstone. I would be pleased, should you agree to my suggestion, to render all the assistanco that lies in my powor. 1 '