SOLDIERS’ GRAVES.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1009, 14 March 1883, Page 3

SOLDIERS’ GRAVES.

TO THE EDITOR. g lß> —Tramps abroad are generally considered invigorating and conducive to health and good spirits, but when such tramps lead to scenes like the old military cemetery on the bluff overhanging the Patea river the reverse is the result. It is tru’y lamentable to see the state of this burial ground, and to reflect what brought the unfortunates there. The neglected stale of one and all of the graves is a disgrace to. New Zefllandj its and population, and it is difficult for one who has a spark of feeling left in him to qualify his language. on the subject, so as to make it admissable to public gaze. The victims of the N.Z. War of 1866, who have found a last resting place on this spot, are mostly members of the 18tb Royal Irish Regiment, and 50th Queen’s Own Regiment, and, to all appearance, one and all who wore buried there had each a monument of timber erected to his memory by the Regiments to which they belonged. These slabs of timber are now in an advanced state of decay, and it is pnly with the greatest difficulty that the names of the sleeping owners of the various allotments can be deciphered. The graves of the regiments of Her Majesty’s regular troops, who shared the colonising wars of New Zealand, are surely entitled to the same care and attention as are bestowed on those of colonists; and, as the former are beyond the reach of their regiments or their individual friends -in the Old Country, the duty devolves on those who are now enjoying the fruits of these early troubles. The subject has often been brought conspicuously forward, both in the Old Country journals and the New Zealand papers, and in the very strongest language, but without producing the desired result. The matter can never drop as long as the same neglect and apathy continue, and until a move is made to improve the graves someone will be constantly bringing the sad subject to the front. The names on the various tomb slabs, as far as readable, are as follows: Gorpl. Chas. Phillpotts, H M. 50th Eegt. Private John H. Burrows, 2nd Batt, H.M, 18th Royal Irish Kegt. Col. Sergt. James Gray, do do do Private John Graham do do do and half a board bearing a few words from which the reader can only conjecture as to the name, regiment, and cause of death of him,!to.whom it refers; i A fluent writer could enlarge on this picture, but I trust the few remarks I have made above will be sufficient to arouse action in some shape or form.— Yours/* &C., J. C. F. Pateaj March 13.