| Content Note | Topics discussed:
Approval and signature of the 393rd Commission meeting minutes
a) Reading of letter received from Mr G.P. Jooste, thanking the Commission for their kind wishes in regard to his new appointment as Secretary for External Affairs at Pretoria
b) Mention that Sir Arthur Rucker had nothing to add to his report from previous meeting
c) Discussion regarding provision of register boxes.
Report of the 438th Finance Committee meeting
Item 1: Usual provision for the Vice-Chairman, in consultation with the Treasury representative on the Finance Committee, to authorise expenditure on items arising during the summer recess.
Item 3: Revision of scales of salaries in United Kingdom.
Item 4 and 5: Salaries in Canada and Australia.
Item 6: Retirement provision for Mr O.G. Gill, the Commission’s Horticultural Consultant.
Item 12: Construction of headstone beam foundations and the erection of headstones at London Cemetery Extension, High Wood, France, which was the cemetery in France into which any remains still being found on the French battlefields were concentrated.
Item 19: Resumption of a grant of £300 which, before the Second World War, had been made annually by the Commission to the Ypres British Settlement in respect of welfare services rendered to Commission staff.
Item 20: Promotion of Mr Maybury, Dr Dron and Mr H.E. Jenner.
Frequency of meetings
Resolution regarding frequency of the meetings of the Commonwealth-Foreign Joint Committees.
Examination of sketch designs by Gordon Leith for Cape Town (Maitland Road), Plumstead Military (European) and Plumstead Military (Non-European) Cemeteries, Cape Province, South Africa.
Plymouth Old Cemetery
Resolution that the Seal of the Commission be affixed to, and the Proper Officer sign the duplicate Deed of Grant by the Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse Cemetery Company of the exclusive right of burial in a Czech War Grave (No. G.L. 36-11) in Plymouth Old Cemetery, Devonshire.
General Fund for the Care and Maintenance of the Graves of the Fallen
Resolution for the purchase of stock for the General Fund for the Care and Maintenance of the Graves of the Fallen.
55th Quarterly Report for the maintenance of war graves in the United Kingdom
Colonel E.A. Griffin, O.B.E., E.D., mentioned that some of the direction boards near Runnymede had been altered to read “To the Air Forces Memorial" and he hoped that all the new boards would be in position by the end of July 1956; Mention of wayside directional board at Harrogate (Wetherby Road) Cemetery, North Yorkshire.
War Graves Agreements
Brief discussion of paper submitted regarding war graves agreements.
German War Graves
Discussion regarding recent meeting held with representatives of the German Federal Republic to discuss the arrangements for the permanent marking of German war graves in the United Kingdom and in the Commission's War Cemeteries and war graves plots overseas.
General notes
Brief mention of the recent pilgrimage to France and Belgium of the Royal Ulster Rifles Association.
Award of an Honorary C.B.E. to M. Mattei
Mentions that the Queen had approved the award of an honorary C.B.E. to Monsieur Mattei, Directeur-General du Ministere des Anciens Combattants et Victimes de Guerre, in recognition or his services to the Commonwealth in connection with war graves and memorials.
Dedication of American Military Cemetery and Memorial, Madingley, Cambridge
Account of dedication of American Military Cemetery and Memorial at Madingley, Cambridge on 16 July 1956.
Appointment of a Member of the Commission
Mentions that Air Marshal Sir Charles Guest had been approached as a potential candidate to fill the vacant position on the membership of the Commission.
Centenary of the Victoria Cross
Mentions that the British Legion had arranged for wreaths to be laid on over 200 war graves of holders of the Victoria Cross during the week of the Centenary Celebrations in June. Also comments that a party of 22 Canadian holders of the Victoria Cross, together with two mothers and two sisters of "deceased holders, visited Brookwood Military Cemetery on 1 July 1956 with the Annual Pilgrimage of the Canadian Veterans' Association, and had also signed the Visitors’ Book there.
Visit by the British Ambassador at Brussels to Cemeteries in the Ypres Area
Mentions that Sir George Labouchere, the British Ambassador at Brussels, had made a tour of cemeteries and memorials in the Ypres Area during the second week of July, and had presented Travelling Superintendent Gardener W.A.J. Dunn the British Empire Medal awarded to him in the New Year Honours.
Forthcoming events
Unveiling of the Cassino Memorial by Earl Alexander of Tunis on 30 September 1956.
First Meeting of the Commonwealth-German-French-Joint Committee had been provisionally arranged for 25th-26th October 1956.
Date of next meeting scheduled for Thursday 20 September 1956 at 11:00am.
ATTENDEES:
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, G.C.B., D.S.O. (Vice-Chairman in the Chair)
J.G. Hale, Esq. (Representing the High Commissioner for New Zealand)
D.V. Serrurier, Esq. (Representing the High Commissioner for South Africa)
Major I.S. Grewal (Representing the High Commissioner for India)
I.B. Watt, Esq. (Representing the Secretary of State for the Colonies)
A.J. Isaac, Esq. (Representing the Minister of Works)
George Sylvester, Esq., M.P.
Captain Sir Harold Campbell, G.C.V.O., D.S.O., R.N.
Sir Arthur Rucker, K.C.M.G., C.B., C.B.E.
Admiral Sir John Edelsten, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., C.B.E.
SECRETARY:
W.J. Chalmers, Esq., C.B.E.
ADVISERS:
Sir William Halcrow, M. Inst. C.E. (Consulting Engineer)
Sir Edward Maufe, Esq., R.A. (Chief Architect and Artistic Adviser)
Also in attendance:
W. Wynne Mason, Esq., M.C. (Assistant Secretary (External Relations))
A.K. Pallot, Esq. (Assistant Secretary (Finance and Establishments))
Major-General J.F.D. Steedman, C.B.E., M.C. (Director of Works)
H.L. Simmons, Esq. LL. B (Legal Adviser)
Colonel E.A. Griffin, O.B.E., E.D. (Chief Administrative Officer, United Kingdom District)
R.I. Mill, Esq. |