WAR GRAVES
DISCONTINUANCE OF EXHUMATIONS. THE POSITION EXPLAINED. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian & N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, September 13. (Received September 14, 5.5 p.m.) The Imperial military authorities proposed to discontine exhumations last March, but, yielding to pressure from the dominions, they agreed to continue till September. Each month fewer identifiable bodies were recovered because the means of identification had decayed. If they postponed discontinuance they would be in practically the same position two years hence, except that identification would be increasingly difficult. The suggestion that civilians should receive a bonus on each body recovered after the military withdrawal failed to obtain the approval of the dominions. The War Office is pledged to the French Government to clear the battlefields at the earliest possible date to enable civil reconstiuction to proceed. Hence it desires to discontinue operations as early as possible. The Commonwealth authorities state that the Australian fatalities totalled 45,000. About 32,000 'have been recovered, including 26,500 identified and 6000 re-interred in cemeteries unidentified, leaving 12,500 still missing.
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Southland Times, Issue 19330, 15 September 1921, Page 5
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168WAR GRAVES Southland Times, Issue 19330, 15 September 1921, Page 5
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