DOMINION WAR GRAVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18116, 14 June 1922, Page 12

DOMINION WAR GRAVES.

' ■ iS> SIR JAMES ALLEN'S TOUR. GALLIPOLI CEMETERIES. [fbom oua own corbespondbnt.] LONDON. May 2. During a tour of England made by Sir James Allen and other members of his family during Easter week, the High Commissioner visited 15 cemeteries where New Zealand soldiers -are buried. Speaking generally, he says, the cemeteries are in fairly good order. In most cases some of the local people have taken upon themselves to look after the f raves. This is notably the case at irockenhurst, in the New Forest, where 93 of our men are buried. Here a Guild of Honour has been formed the members of which are very assiduous in their attention. to the plots. In no cemetery have the permanent headstones yet been erected, but said Sir James, " I do hot think that people ought to worry about that. It is much more urgent "that the headstones in Franoe and in other foreign lands should .be erected first. At the same time, in Britain things are not altogether satisfactory. In some instances arrangements had been made by the Australian and Canadian authorities with the local authorities and the War Graves Commission to keep their particular graves in order. The War Graves Commission has since taken the matter into its hands and has made modifications, especially in regard to cost. New Zealand is not concerned with these arrangements, but I see no reason why it should not be. I have already discussed the matter with the War Graves Commission, but I intend to bring the subject up again at the next meeting. " There is one other difficulty which will have to be faced," added the High Commissioner. " A number of memorial stones have been erected by comrades, and when it comes to erecting the uniform headstones it will be a somewhat delicate question to decide whether these private memorials shall be removed or not.'; Miss Coreen Ogston (Dunedin) has recently .returned from a cruise in the Mediterranean in the Meteor. The yacht put in to the bay where the War Graves Commission has its headquarters, thus giving the voyagers an opporftmity- of going over the Gallipoli Peninsula. Miss Ogston was taken by motor-car by Colonel Hughes to every place of interest, and she was greatly impresed with the way in which the cemeteries in their temporary state are being looked after. Everything was in perfect order, and the work of erecting the permanent cemeteries and headstones, according to the designs of Sir John Burnet, is being pushed forward.