GALLIPOLI TO-DAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18389, 3 May 1923, Page 7

GALLIPOLI TO-DAY.

TROOPS ON PENINSULA. - : CEMETERIES COMPLETED. WORK OF GRAVES COMMISSION, . [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] - LONDON, March 32. . There are rumours that the forces ,of Great Britain will be withdrawing from the Near East in the not distant future. At present, however, the Gallipoli Peninsula is an armed camp. For six years . the old battlegrounds were visited only by the Graves Registration officials and the staff of the Imperial War Graves Commission. Suddenly the war clouds gathered again in the Near East and the ~ quiet hillsides resounded onco more to the tramp of armies and the hammers and picks of the khaki working parties. Over on the Asiatic side miles and miles of trenches were dug and wire entanglements were constructed, and there the British troops are still keeping, guard while the Turks remain in position beyond. Guns command forty miles of the sea front. On Gallipoli 15.000 troops are quartered. Nissen huts have, sprung up across the plain from Kelia, and every man is quartered under a roof. Nothing was left to chance. Light railways were thrown, out in all directions and a railway was run across from Kelia to Anzac, • for it was from this ; shore supplies would have been brought in case of hostilities. Native Shrubs Planted. •...'.. Lieutenant A. W. Mildenhall, of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, chief clerk of works for the Imperial Graves ;; Commission on the peninsula, has been in England, and it is his opinion that the people in Great Britain never realised how near to war we were last autumn. When the Turks gained their victory over the Greeks all the Greeks on the peninsula fled and so the work on the cemeteries i was suspended for a time. Italians and Russians were brought in and these are now engaged by the cemetery contractors and by the Army. . '-.; t Five of the cemeteries are completed except for the headstones. These . are Embarkation Tier, New Zealand No. 1 Outpost, No. 2 Outpost, Canterbury, and 7th Field Ambulsince. The "headstones are being \ made and inscribed in England, and will be sent out all ready to place on the graves. Ait expert gar-, dener from Kew is superintending tha planting. Grass within the walled area of these completed cemeteries is in good growth, and the 30ft. belts of ] shrubs ';■: have been planted. : Australian and New Zealand shrubs are being planted-and the Australian ;gum tree, of which there are soventy-two varieties, is being extensively ; used.'- 'A'-!'.- •.-. '■■''■.'• :.:'/:''.'. ■■ : 'Yi.^■'■:■'': ■:?•? V How the Stone is Transported.

The contractors have i erected a; rope' . lino from Ocean Beach to Baby 700, and from there on to Lone Pino. r : By this means they are able to , convey J; their: stone (brought by ■-; ship from Olgardere, : about ten miles from Kolia) right on to: : the sites of the cemeteries at Walker's Ridge, the Nek, Lone Tine, Johnson's ;? Jolly, Steel and Courtenay,- Quiun's ■ Post, and to tho 4th Battalion; cemetery.! The same contractors will erect the Now >'tr Zealand Battle Memorial at Chunuk'B/ftiri"-/" but pending a satisfactory settlement ; with tho Turks the erection of this has been postponed. * i Work on two \ cemeteries nt Mudros, two at Constantinople, arid one at Syra is now being proceeded .with. Jij Naturally, a certain amount of apprehension is felt by the Graves Commission at the l approaching evacuation Aof tho British troops. . They are hoping v for; the best, however. ~: After the Crimean War the > Turks gave*the Haidar Pasha Cemetery: ; at Constantinople to the: British, and * this has been respected during the ; in-; tervening half century. No crosses sre erected there, however, '■ and whether .the Christian symbol on allinoli will act as ", a provocation to the Turks ia ycfc to bo ' proved. ;.:-:■.;■' v:* ? :- : ■! .. : ; At Lone Pine a special inscription applicable to tho unknown dead of both Now Zealand ;• and Australian soldiers 'is< : to be placed on the central memorial. Sir James Allen and Sir Joseph Cook . have been in consultation over this and their ; suggestions have been submitted, to Mr. Rudyard Kipling for approval or further - suggestions. >.\ : ';- . * - f ;•.-;■•-.•' v '