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The Chairman welcomed Mr F. J. Cronje, successor to Mr D. S. Preller as representative of the Ambassador of South Africa, and Mr Paul Cotton, representative of the High Commissioner for New Zealand, who were attending a Commission Meeting for this first time.
The deaths of Her Royal Highness Princess Marina and Mr Norman Robertson, former Canadian Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs and Canadian High Commissioner in London, were reported.
The Chairman announced that Mr C. D. Jack, Regional Director of the Northern Region, had suffered a stroke and was recovering in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London.
Matters arising from the 493rd Meeting of the Commission Report that the site at Dar-es-Salaam (Ocean Road) Cemetery was handed over to the Tanzanian authorities and that construction was still underway at Dar-es-Salaam (Bagamoyo) War Cemetery; update on the Commission’s attempt to recover the Memorial in the Port Authority Hall in Aden, which had been stolen; report on the first negotiating meeting between the Commonwealth delegation and the United Arab Republic delegation regarding the proposed removal Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery and Alexandria (Chatby) Military and War Memorial Cemetery; account of the Vice-Chairman’s visit to cemeteries and memorials in the Caen Area and Normandy, and meeting with the Heads of Missions and other members of the Joint Committee in Paris; details of the Director-General’s tour in Scandinavia, which included visits to war graves in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
Report of the 534th Meeting of the Finance Committee Discussion concerning the proposed appointment of additional staff at Head Office and arrangements for the temporary lease of additional office premises.
49th Annual Report and Statement of Accounts of the Commission (CM 11/18) Explanation of the Accounts for 1967/68, which consisted of a Summary of Receipts and Payments and a Statement of Expenditure; details concerning the Statement of Expenditure, which had been lower than anticipated due to delays in structural progress; information concerning the Summary of Receipts and Payments, which included details of expenditure for General Purposes and Special and Agency Purposes.
Commonwealth-Foreign Joint Committees Appointment of Monsieur le Ministre Lucien Harmegnies, Minister of the Interior, as Belgian Honorary Member of the Commonwealth-Belgian Joint Committee; appointment of Sir Roger Jackling, United Kingdom Ambassador at Bonn, as Commonwealth Honorary Member and Air Chief Marshal Sir Walter Cheshire as Commonwealth Official Member of the Commonwealth-German-French Joint Committee; appointment of Air Chief Marshal Sir Walter Cheshire as Commonwealth Official Member of the Commonwealth-Italian Joint Committee; appointment of Mr B. Hitch, First Secretary and Head of Chancery, British Embassy, and Mr G. Sandar, First Secretary, Indian Embassy, as Commonwealth Members and Mr Kotaro Ichikawa, Ministry of Finance, and Mr Hiroshi Watanabe, Yokohama City Government, as Japanese Members of the Commonwealth-Japanese Joint Committee.
Approval of the classification of the 1,104 war graves enumerated in List No. 16 of war graves in the United Kingdom recommended for classification as “not within the Commission’s control”.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom: Woking Muslim Military Cemetery, Surrey Approval of the proposed exhumation of 24 Commonwealth and three French war graves from Woking Muslim Military Cemetery that were to be reinterred in Brookwood Military Cemetery.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom: City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery Approval of the proposed commemoration of 12 Commonwealth war burials in City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery by adding their names to the existing Screen Wall in that cemetery.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom: Horton Estate Cemetery, Surrey Approval of the proposed commemoration of two Commonwealth war burials in Horton Estate Cemetery on special memorial headstones, bearing suitable superscriptions, that were to be erected in the First World War plot in Epsom Cemetery.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom: Cemeteries in the Manchester Area Approval of the proposed commemoration of 18 Commonwealth war burials in Manchester General Cemetery, nine Commonwealth war burials in Openshaw (St. Barnabas) Churchyard, eight Commonwealth war burials in Newton Heath (All Saints) Church Cemetery, nine Commonwealth war burials in Eccleston (St. Thomas) Churchyard Extension and five Commonwealth war burials in Cheetham Hill Methodist Cemetery on a Screen Wall Memorial that were to be erected in the Second World War plot in Manchester Southern Cemetery.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom: Skelmersdale (St. Paul) Churchyard, Lancashire Approval of the proposed commemoration of one Commonwealth war burial in Skelmersdale (St. Paul) Churchyard on a special memorial headstone, bearing a suitable superscription, that was to be erected against the wall of the church in the same churchyard.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom: Ilfracombe (St. Brannock’s Road) Cemetery, Devon Approval of the proposed commemoration of two Commonwealth war burials in Ilfracombe (St. Brannock’s Road) Cemetery on special memorial headstone, bearing suitable superscriptions, that were to be erected in the Second World War plot in Punchardon (St. Augustine) Churchyard.
Reports from Regions and Agencies for the Quarter Ended 30th June 1968 (CM 211/1-6) Discussion concerning the length of the Quarterly Reports.
General Notes Account of the tour by Mr David Griffiths of sites in the French and Belgian Areas; recount of visit by the Minister of Public Building and Works to the Commission’s Regional Headquarters in Rome; announcement that Mr Dube was to replace Mr Teillet as the Minister of Veterans’ Affairs and Canadian Agency of the Commission; arrangements for the Gardeners’ Service at Westminster Abbey and annual Remembrance Day broadcast; details of the pilgrimage of planned by the Canadian Government for servicemen from the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War to a Canadian battlefield memorials in France and Belgian to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war.
Other Business Discussion concerning the responsibility for non-World War military graves in Aden and Cyprus; report on the unsatisfactory condition of Malta Capuccini Naval Cemetery; the death of Brigadier D. R. Agnew, former Chief Administrative Officer of the then North-West European District and Regional Director of the United Kingdom Region, was reported; report that the construction of the Kaduna Memorial was completed.
ATTENDEES: Admiral Sir Guy Grantham GCB CBE DSO (Vice-Chairman of the Commission) Colonel Alan Chambers DSO OBE (Representing the High Commissioner for Canada) Mr F. C. Boyle (Representing the High Commissioner for Australia) Mr P. Cotton (Representing the High Commissioner for New Zealand) Mr F. J. Cronje (Representing the Ambassador of South Africa) Major B. N. Satya Murti (Representing the High Commissioner for India) Major Ahmad Shamim Khan (Representing the High Commissioner for Pakistan) Sir Arthur Rucker KCMG CB CBE General Sir John Anderson GBE KCB DSO Sir Robert Black GCMG OBE Mr Verner Wylie Colonel Sir Richard Glyn BART OBE TD DL MP Miss Joan Woodgate CBE RRC Air Chief Marshal Sir Walter Cheshire GBE KCB
SECRETARY Mr W. J. Chalmers CBE (Director-General)
ADVISER Mr H. D. Morgan MSc (Eng.) MICE (Consulting Engineer)
Also in attendance: Mr W. Wynne Mason MC ((Assistant Secretary) Director of External Relations and Records) Mr A. K. Pallot ((Assistant Secretary) Director of Finance and Establishments) Brigadier K. F. Daniell CBE BA (Director of Works) Mr H. L. Simmons LLB (Legal Adviser and Solicitor) Mr W. F. W. Harding OBE BSc (Hort.) (Chief Horticultural Officer) Mr A. S. Laing MVO (Deputy Establishment Officer) Mr A. E. V. Shephard |