WAR GRAVES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23021, 26 April 1938, Page 8

WAR GRAVES

FRANCE AND BELGIUM COMMISSION'S REPORT MAINTENANCE SATISFACTORY DISCOVERIES OF BODIES [FROM OT7R OWN CORRESPONDENT] LONDON, March 30 The 18th annual report of the Imperial War Graves Commission for tho year ended March 31, 1937, shows that generally the war cemeteries have been satisfactorily maintained and that the general appearance of those in I 1 ranee and Belgium has been kept at its customary high standard. Major-General Sir Fabian Ware, in an introduction, states that since the systematic work of clearing the battlefields of graves was brought to an end more than 40,000 bodies have been found. All theso have been reburied in' individual graves. This has meant the provision of 40,000 additional headstones and the construction and permanent maintenance of the cemeteries in which they are situated. The proportion Of identifications is approximately 10 per cent. During, the year meetings were held of several of the qaixed committees through which the commission is able to discuss questions affecting war graves in the foreign countries concerned. The commission has been greatly encouraged by the increasing interest taken, both in the British Commonwealth and in the foreign countries concerned, in this international development of its work. Statistics ol Identification The report states that the discovery of British bodies by local inhabitants on the former battlefields continues, and during tho year th,e total found was slightly less than in 1935-36. In France 768 bodies were found, compared with 821 in 1935-36, and in Belgium the number recovered was 94, compared with 63 in the previous year. Of tho 768 bodies found in France, 676 were found on the Somme battlefields. The discovery was in each case reported to the commission, which arranged for reburial in a British cemeterv. Notification is sent to the relatives, if they can be traced, whenever a body is identified, and it was found possible during the year to estaolish identification in 189 cases. . In the same jteriod the French official search parties found and reburied, in one department the alone, the bodies of 231 French and 483 German soldiers. Theso figures compare with the totals of 795 and 810 respectively in 1935-36. Work oJ the Inspectors The total British personnel employed bv the commission in France and Belgmm at, March 31, 1937, numbered 595, compared with 598 on the corresponding date in 1936. Of this number 500 were employed in the horticultural branch; the administrative, finance, works, and transport branches account for the remainder. / . . , . During the year tjie commission s inspectors visited some 6500 burial places and inspected over 68,500 graves in the United Kingdom. Renovation work was carried out in certain cemeteries. Jsone of the repairs was of a serious nature. The casli payments of the commission during tho year amounted to £239,802 16s Bd.