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His Excellency Mr T H McCombs
The Chairman welcomed His Excellency Mr T.H. McCombs, High Commissioner for New Zealand.
Brigadier S G Payara
The Chairman welcomed Brigadier S.G. Payara who was attending a meeting of the Commission for the first time as representative of the High Commissioner for India.
Head Office Conference
The Chairman welcomed the overseas delegates assembled for the Head Office Conference due to start after the meeting, on behalf of the Commission.
Birthday Honours List
Announcement that in the Birthday Honours List, Her Majesty the Queen had appointed Mr W.J. Chalmers CBE, Secretary and Director-General of the Commission, to be a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and Mr F. T. Holmes, lately Assistant Registrar at Head Office, to be a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
Matters Arising from the Minutes of the 512th Meeting of the Commission
Update on Pakistan's membership of the Commission.
Update on proposed Turkish Memorial on the Gallipoli Peninsula and the proposal to build an office and residence for the Local Supervisor at Canakkale.
Report from Mr Pallot on the effect on the estimates for 1973/74 of further developments, with an estimate that annual expenditure was running at about £250,000 above the figure in the Estimates.
Update on incidents of vandalism at the Liverpool Memorial.
Report of the 554th Meeting of the Finance Committee
Adoption of the Report of the 554th Meeting of the Finance Committee including a recommendation for structural maintenance, principally headstone renovation, at the very large St Sever Cemetery and Extension at Rouen, and a report on the new brickwork of the Thiepval Memorial.
Recommendation for the approval of pay increases for United Kingdom based Non-Manual Staff,
Staff of the Anzac Agency for the Pacific Region and Staff of the South African Agency, all corresponding to increases given to comparable grades in the Civil or Public Service of the country concerned.
Announcement that six appointments of staff to fill authorised vacancies had been made by promotion.
Commonwealth-Foreign Joint Committees - Appointment of Members
Commonwealth-Belgian Joint Committee:
Son Excellence Monsieur le Ministre Edouard Close (Minister of Home Affairs)
Commonwealth-German-French Joint Committee:
Ministerialrat Dr Hartmut Schubert (Federal Ministry for Youth, Family and Health)
Commonwealth-Japanese Joint Committee:
Mr Tomitaro Koizumi (Director of the General Affairs Bureau, Yokohama City)
Commonwealth-Thai Joint Committee:
Mr D C Goss (Counsellor, Australian Embassy, Bangkok)
Reorganisation - Pacific Region (ES 124/12/17)
Authorisation to proceed with the preparation of the necessary formalities to bring the arrangements proposed in the papers before the Commission (subject to the agreement of the Australian and New Zealand Governments to the proposed arrangements) for the reorganisation of the Commission's work in the Pacific Region, and the agreement of all Participating Governments to the consequent revision of percentages of contributions to the cost of carrying out the work of the Commission.
Regroupment of graves in Tanzania (CM 128/2)
Approval in principle of the proposal to concentrate 1200 War Graves (including 73 Belgian and German graves) from 25 up-country sites in Tanganyika into Dar-es-Salaam (Nagamoyo Road) War Cemetery.
Graves Not Within The Commission's Control - United Kingdom (CM 173/1)
Approval of the classification of not within the Commission's control of the 157 war graves enumerated in Supplementary List No 5 of war graves in the United Kingdom recommended for classification as "not within the Commission's control", submitted by the Secretary and signed by him on each page for identification.
Unmaintainable Graves - United Kingdom: Hartlepool North Cemetery, Country Durham
Approval of the proposal to commemorate 71 Commonwealth War Burials of the 1914-1918 War and 3 of the 1939-1945 War in Hartlepool North Cemetery, Co Durham, on a new Memorial to be erected by the Commission in the Garden of Remembrance in the same cemetery.
Unmaintainable Graves - United Kingdom: Ashton-under-Lyne (St Michael) Churchyard Extension, Lancashire
Approval of the proposal to commemorate 4 Commonwealth War burials of the 1914-1918 War in Ashton-under-Lyne (St Michael) Churchyard Extension, Lancashire on an existing Screen Wall in Manchester Southern Cemetery.
Unmaintainable Graves - United Kingdom: Yeadon Methodist Chapelyard, Yorkshire
Approval of the proposal to commemorate 2 Commonwealth war burials of the 1914-1918 War in Yeadon Methodist Chapelyard, Yorkshire by the erection of 2 special memorial headstones in the plot of 1914-1918 War graves in Leeds (Harehills) Cemetery, Yorkshire.
Unmaintainable Graves - United Kingdom: Sculcoates (Sacristy) Cemetery, Kingston Upon Hull, Yorkshire
Approval of the proposal to commemorate 7 Commonwealth war burials, 6 of the 1914-1918 War and 1 of the 1939-1945 war, in Sculcoates (Sacristy) Cemetery, Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire by the erection of 7 special memorial headstones with a small commemorative stone, adjacent to the plot of 1939-1945 War graves in Hull Northern Cemetery.
War graves in Switzerland
Approval of the transfer of the ashes of one Commonwealth War Casualty from Lausanne (Montoie) Cemetery, Switzerland and the removal of one Commonwealth War burial from Schonengrund Communal Cemetery, Switzerland, to Vevey (St Martin's) Cemetery, Switzerland.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Superannuation Scheme (1952) - Amendment to the Rules
Approval of Amendment to the rules of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Superannuation Scheme (1952) including the authorisation for the Trustees of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Superannuation Scheme (1952) to make modifications, alterations and amendments to the rules to allow for the option of buying "added years" to those who had reached retiring age at the time of the introduction of the amendment, and to make transfers of pensions between employment schemes easier.
Execution of Documents (CM 210/4/1/LC)
Approval of the action for the execution by the Commission or on its behalf of the documents, Serial Nos Part I 468 and 473 to 476 and Part 11 87, 89 and 90 referred to in the Schedule laid before the Meeting and signed for identification by the Commission's Legal Adviser and Solicitor.
Reports from Regions, Areas and Agencies - Quarter Ended 31 March 1973
Reports from Regions, Areas and Agencies for the Quarter ended 31 March 1973, including updates on maintenance in Western European Cemeteries, Aden and Central Africa, and action taken to address acts of vandalism in England.
General Notes
Notes from the Chairman on his visits to cemeteries of both wars in Austria and Northern Italy, and Scotland; Report from Sir Noel Thomas on his visit to cemeteries in Hong Kong and Singapore, where he had been moved by the sight of headstones erected by Prisoners of War.
Report from the Secretary on his tour to Singapore, Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.
Report from Sir Robert Black on the 6th Meeting of the Commonwealth-Netherlands Joint Committee in the Hague on 8th-9th May.
Other Business
Update on an unmaintainable grave in the Philippines, in a cemetery called San Pedro Macati Cemetery, Manila of a sailor of the 1914-1918 War.
Report from the Secretary about a tour operator organising a tour of Normandy which had not included visits to any war cemeteries and the need to promote the war cemeteries to companies who dealt with tourists.
Note from Colonel Cilliers about a South African body called the Divisional Council which had taken control of cemeteries previously under the control of other authorities, and had been so impressed by how war graves were looked after by the Commission in Australia and Singapore, that they had gone on to base their regulations for new cemeteries they were establishing on what they had seen in the Commission's cemeteries, and had borrowed from him a copy of the Commission's horticultural manual so that they could follow the layout in the cemeteries.
Note of the date of the next meeting of the Commission at Head Office on Thursday 4 October at 11 am.
ATTENDEES:
Air Chief Marshall Sir Walter Cheshire GBE KCB (Vice-Chairman of the Commission), in the Chair
Colonel A.D. Watt OBE (Representing the High Commissioner for Australia)
His Excellency Mr T.H. McCombs (High Commissioner for New Zealand)
Mr P. A. Grobbelaar (Representing the Ambassador of South Africa)
Brigadier S.G. Payara (Representing the High Commissioner for India)
Mr J.W.T. Pritchard (Representing the Minister for Housing and Construction)
Sir Robert Black GCMG OBE
Miss Joan Woodgate CBE RRC
Sir John Winnifrith KCB
Admiral Sir Frank Twiss KCB DSC
Mr G. D. Wallace MP
General Sir Noel Thomas KCB DSO MC
SECRETARY:
Mr W.J. Chalmers CB CBE (Director-General)
ADVISER:
Mr P.A. Scott BSc FICE (Honorary Consulting Engineer)
There were also present:
Mr D.B.G. McLean (Deputy High Commissioner for New Zealand)
Mr A.K. Pallot CMG (Assistant Secretary, Director of Finance and Establishments)
Mr P.H.M. Swan (Assistant Secretary, Director of External Relations)
Mr P.R. Matthew BA (Legal Adviser and Solicitor)
Mr W.H. Dukes (Director of Works)
Mr W.F.W. Harding OBE BSc (Hort) FLS (Director of Horticulture)
Mr A.S. Laing MVO (Director of Information Services)
Mr W.J. Symons (Administrator, Overseas Direct Administration Department)
Mr D.H. Lloyd (Director, United Kingdom)
Mr I.C. Haydon (Private Secretary to Director-General)
Mr C.H. Fuller (Secretary General, Canadian Agency)
Mr A.I. Allan (Secretary General, Anzac Agency and Director, Pacific Region)
Lt. Colonel A.D. Cilliers (Secretary, South African Agency)
Mr L.J.H. Gibson OBE (Area Superintendent, France Area)
Mr R.G. Wall MBE (Area Superintendent, North West Europe Area)
Mr P.N. Dolan (Area Superintendent, Western Mediterranean Area)
Mr S.T. Grady OBE (Area Superintendent, Eastern Mediterranean Area) |