WAR GRAVES.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 November 1922, Page 7

WAR GRAVES.

INSPECTION IN NEW PLYMOUTH. Mr. V. Scott, of Wellington, officer in charge of the War Graves Division of the Internal Affairs Department, paid a visit of inspection at New Plymouth yesterday to the graves of Maori war veterans in St. Marys and the Te Henui cemeteries and to the graves of those who died since returning from the recent war. He was accompanied by Mrs. C. TI. Burgess, of the Victoria League, and Mr. G. E. Roper, secretary of the local R.S.A. All the graves were found to be in excellent order.

It may not be generally known in the Taranaki district that war graves of the late war have been so defined that a grave is deemed to be a war grave if death is certified as due to disabilities contracted on active service. All such graves are to ’be treated in exactly the same manner as is being done by the Imperial War Graves Commission in the case of our men who are buried in France and other theatres of the war. This work has been entrusted to the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. Downie Stewart), himself a returned soldier, and to date work has been completed at Palmerston North and partially completed at Featherston, while the contract) for O’Neill’s Point Cemetery, Devonport, Auckland, has been let.

Where a special plot has been provided for the burial of soldiers, each row is to be kerbed. in concrete and the universal headstones erected. These stones are of New .Zealand granite, 2ft. 6in. in height, Ift. 3in. in width, and 3in. in thickness. A large cross is cut into the face of the stone, in the centre of which are the letters “N.ZIE.F.,” and the New Zealand emblem (the fern leaf). Above the cross is shown the regimental number, rank, name, unit, date of death, ami age.

Where soldiers’ burials have taken place in public cemeteries the plots will be kerbed and floored and white pebbles will be scattered over the graves, universal headstones being also erected. The Government is preparing the way for relatives who have carried out permanent work on the graves to erect universal headstones, but only on condition that the existing headstones are laid flat on the graves. Pending the carrying out of the permanent work each grave is being marked :by a simple wooden cross, similar to those used overseas. To date 1000 of these have been erected.

The Victoria League, in conjunction with the R.S.A., is caring for the graves of ex-soldiers, which are not deemed to be war graves, and it is intended to erect head-stones of a similar design to those mentioned above. These organisations, as a result of the visit, are to be given to understand that it is desirable to have the work done in conformity with the work to be done by the Government, and it is hoped that the Government design will be adapted throughout the Dominion, thus making the graves, wherever they are to be found, identifiable with the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces.