GALLIPOLI GRAVES.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1920, Page 11

GALLIPOLI GRAVES.

NEW ZEALAND CEMETERIES. WORK OF RESTORATION. •London, July 8. It was definitely decided by the Imperial War Graves Commission at a meeting on August 23, 101!), that all the work to be done by the commission on Gallipoli should be carried out by an Australian and New Zealand personnel. Colonel C. E. Hughes, who had been in Gallipoli as the Australian representative with the Imperial Graves Registration unit, was appointed deputy-director of works, and was instructed to set up an establishment and secure his staff. Tn the meantime work on detailed plans of cemeteries was being started by Sir .lohn Bennet and Captain G. S. Keesing, who had visited Gallipoli in May of 1!)I8. Colonel Hughes and his party of fourteen Australians and New Zealanders went out on September 12, ltflf), and work has been proceeding since that time. "The position at present." said Colonel Hughes, who is at present in London, "is that all the graves at Anzac have been located. A number of isolated graves have heen transferred, and plans have been completed and details worked out for twenty-seven Anzac cemeteries. All the temporary wooden crosses are up and name-plates.are complete. The survey work at Suvla and Hellcs is well in hand, and should be completed very soon. With tlw present political and military

situation ruling it is practically impossible to carry out the work at once by contract, as originally intended, so that in order to., push on the work of the permanent memorials it has been decided to carry out the work of erecting the - protection walla of the cemeteries by day labour, supervised by the Graves Commission staff, until such time as it is possible to arrange contracts. The Graves Registration unit has worked unceasingly, and the cemeteries are well tended, wooden crosses being erected to those buried there. As the Graves Commission work is carried out temporary crosses will be replaced by permanent headstones." Asked whether (he graves had been desecrated by the Turks, Colonel Hughes said that in November, 1018, a cemetery was found about 400 yards east of Lone Pine, overlooking Legg's Valley, and in front of our own original front line. It. had been wire'd in, and headstones erected. Nearby was another cemetery wired in and with similar headstones erected. This latter cemetery was also supposed to be a Turkish one, but on invetigation being made last May it was found that it contained the remains of Australians and New Zealanders and sailors who had been killed in the first rush. They had evidently been buried by the Turks, and the cemeteries had been protected. If the Turks took as much trouble as this, said Colonel Hughes, in one case, it. was hardly reasonable to suppose that desecration' took place on other cemeteries. Speaking of the suggestion which has been made that the New Zealand memorial should be erected at Chunuk Bair, Colonel Hughes said that he thought New Zealanders would be better advised to combine with the Imperial, Australian, Indian, and Newfoundland authorities in the erection of a permanent memorial" at Helles. A local memorial would be seen, only by visitors to the spot, and future generations would forget that it was there. On the high cliff at the entrance to the Dardanelles, however, it would be seen by everyone passing up and down the strait, and would bo a landmark even in the centuries to come. This matter would be decided later, however, by the Kattle Exploits Committee, of which the High Commissioners v;ere members. It is anticipated that the work on Gallipoli will take a ( period of three years to complete, but providing the_ political and military situation is quiet there is no reason why visitors should not be allowed earlier. At the present time, however, visits of civilians to the peninsula are out of the question.