MILITARY CEMETERIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 7 February 1925, Page 7

MILITARY CEMETERIES.

THE GALLIPOLI AREA. Lieut.-Colonel C. E. Hughes, C.8.E., who has been Deputy-Director of Works for the Imperial War Graves Commission at Gallipoli, has arrived in London, and he states that the whole of the construction work of the cemeteries and memorials was completed in September. The work carried out includes six cemeteries at Hellos, four at Suvla, twenty-one at Anzae, two at Constantinople, and two at Mudros. There are also .three memorials to the missing—a New Zealand one on top of Chanak Bair; and an Australian one at Lone Pine; and the Imperial memorial at Cape Helles. The walls of the Cape Helles memorial are built to take the panels with the names of missing and those buried at sea, while on the base of the plinth itself are four panels, one on each side, with the names of every unit and ship which took part in Gallipoli. All the cemeteries have been planted with trees and shrubs. New Zealand ad Australian flora being lepresented. A small staff is still at I.W.G.G. head-quarters on the Dardanelles, and it is proposed that after April the permanent maintenance staff will carry on. It will probably consist of two -old Anzacs, who will hape under them local personnel as gardeners. “Those /whose loved ones sleep on Gallipoli,” says Colonel Hughes, “may rest assured that their graves will be always well cared for. No trouble is expected from the- Turk. Of course, it is impossible to forecast the future, but such is the respect that our jjeoplc earned by their fighting qualities, ami that respect has been maintained by the Australians and New Zealanders who have been working ,oii Gallipoli for the last four years, that I personally feel there is not the slightest doubt of their safety.

“The New Zealand memorial commands a fine site. Its inscription commemorates the officers, N.C.O.’s, and men of New Zealand who fell in the attack on Chanak Bair in August, 1915, and ends with the simple phrase: ‘‘From the utmost ends of the earth.” So to those who 'come from the many corners of our Empire, as their ship drops anchor in Chanak Bair, with its memorials to the Dominion’s dead, this is the first view of Anzae.

The mem liers of the Commission who we re in Gallipoli have passed on fto other areas. Lieut. A. AV. Mildenhall (Christchurch) and Lieut. E. T. Marr (Auckland) are still on this side of the world, one being in France and the other in tins London head office. Those in New Zealand who wish to communicate direct with Imperial AA'nr. Graves Commission in the G'allipoli area should address letters: Area Superintendent, Box 13, Turkish Post Office, Chanak. No decision has yet been made as to unveiling. Visitors are recommended not to go to Gallipoli except between May and September. The trip can be made quote easily in good weather from Port Said each week, being a Khedival mail-boat going from here to Constantinople, and stopping at Chanak each Sunday morning. The only accommodation at present is with' the I.AV.G.C. staff, who should lie advised of a visit.