§ 80. Mr. SNOWDENasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office if he will explain why, after four years, only four war cemeteries in Palestine out of 34 have been constructionally completed and only about 1,300 headstones erected out of some 12,000; and whether it is possible to have the work accelerated.
The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for WAR (Lieut.-Colonel Guinness)Work in Palestine has been delayed owing to the necessity for consultation 1351 between Dominion representatives and their Governments on certain proposals for joint commemoration; and also owing to difficulties in settling the designs most suitable to local circumstances. Although there are altogether 34 cemeteries in Syria and Palestine recorded as containing British war graves, some 16 of these contain less than 20 graves each.