OVER THE-BATTLEFIRLDS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 35, 5 November 1920, Page 3

OVER THE-BATTLE-FIRLDS

FROM RHEIMS TO YPRES

WITH THE IMPERIAL GRAVES COMMISSION

■ Mr. xsol'iiar<i Tripp, of Timaru. who represented New Zealand'at the Intorna- ■ tionnl Congress of Red Cross Societies in Geneva a few mouths ago, and who is , :n°iv in Wellington, was invited to visit ■ tho .EhUle-gronnds niong tho Western front after, tho conference finished. He only traversed! tho section where.the Brit- • -isli forces had fought' and won—between Jv hoi ins and Ypros—but that-, fiectiou-was fairly typical of the whole. "What struck, him more forcibly than anything else was the wonderful work the French penKin'y had done nnd were doin? in bringing (lie land into cultivation again. All along the line one could' distinguish the big uliell lioica and the .trenches,, but such , traces of the war were rapidly being obliterated by the happy combination of man and nature. There was no., "go slow" on the Mnrne or the Somnie The peasants and tlfeir,children worked from daylight till 9 p.m. filling in tho trenches, and as that filling went on seoil wa3 set, so that- where men fought, bled, aild died two years ago could now be seen waving .corn and other crops. "In some, plncos," ho said, "I could «eo the green crops covering the fields, «nil only A white line to mark the course of an old trench—the white being the An Iky soil which had been thrown up and liad.bleiiclied in the weather. These white lines-could bo seen in all directions, Bliowiiig through or just over the now growth of tho battle-ground?. I should «av that at.tho rate they working sow the ba-tie-grounds will be once more entirely under cultivation in about two years' time*. That does not mean that - ' tho work of restoration will then have been .completed, tor it Will tiilio much longer to restore tho buildings which were ruthlessly destroyed in town and country. That will be a very long job.- Bei- ' gium was scarcely touched. Barring Ypres, T/Ouvaiii, nnd round Liege; tho destruction by tho (lOrtuaus *in 'Ht'lfnan territory was "comparatively iiegligitile. It. was France who. got it 'in the neck. In Belgium tho people seemed to lie quito happy, contented, and. well fwl. So the pall-of-a great war passes " ; Collecting the Dead. "The work of collocting and identify- • in" the dead is- in the hands of mem of the Imperial Army," said Mr, Tripp "When satisfied that, tliey have cleared up a district, t]iov rebitry the remains ill some order in a cemetery area, each grave being marked by a small white woodon cross, bearing Hie decensed s name number. Then the Imperial Graves Com.mission takes up tho work of erecting a proper headstone .over each grave, wall* im? im the cemetery, and. engaging caretakers and gardeners to look after and beautify those places for all time. J suppose there are some 3000 of_ these cemeteries along the British section of: the line, but many of those are small ones, and it is'the ultimate aim to limit 1h" number of cemctenes : to between 18UO aii'l 2000."' -> • V,'m < 1 ' ' In reply to a question, Mr. Tripp Faul that as far as he could see there was no attempt' teing. made' to create-separate c'emetcftes. for the—English,' Canadian, .Australian, or New ' Zealand dead-they. ■ were all classed as "British," and perhaps'it .was just as well, as. in-many instances the trooiis engaged "i action were very mixed'. -AVhilst liihny small ccmeteries, there, weie g' ! ones containing 10,000, 12.000, and even ■ 16,000 dead. Owing to fifero bemfj no sonaratc cemeteries and no sectionisjng of the dead within a cemetery, there might be some difficulty, m pcoplo irad- , . ing *0 graves of their relat ve.s. ■ But :tl,ov -*nu7d not have-im,ch trouVe if they went, the right way about it. Tho mht way, was To make Calais the firs- objective.' There the Jvfd Cross peop e had ' stationed Captain (tho. Hev) Mullineux (who it would: be rememberetl, enlisted iii. AVellihgto'u.'ns.i.prirate s .«nd was sub- . sequently made a Cnp ain 'Mnllineus knew tne conntrj' and the cemetories very thoro-jgii.y, and was veritable "directory" as to how to timl th" grave of a soffller. Mr: Tnpp's ad- - vice to anyone conteni\>la>ing such n„ mlaffion was to see Captain Jlulhneux hrst- • if he couTd not tell where a certnn. gnne was he. would t>e able to direct-, the mquircr to sqipcodg wouicl.