§ Mr. A. V. ALEXANDERasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the Sheffield branch of the British War Graves Association has communicated with him desiring the continuance of the payment of a financial grant in order to assist the relatives of deceased soldiers killed in the Great War to visit the graves of their relations, and asking that the Government should grant those British subjects who so desire the right, already granted to the citizens of America and every other country, of bringing over to England the remains of their deceased relatives for burial in their own churchyards or cemeteries; and, if so, what steps he proposes to take in the matter?
Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The request referred to has received most careful and sympathetic consideration, but I regret that it has not been found possible, consistently with 1075W essential economy, to continue the grant after the end of the present financial year. With reference to the second part of the question, in view of the large number of applications of this character which were received, the Imperial War Graves Commission some time ago carefully considered the matter, but came to the conclusion that the removal of remains of soldiers in special cases from their resting places in the War theatres was opposed to the policy of equality of treatment of the fallen which has been unanimously adopted, and which has received such strong support from the public. For this reason, and in view also of the practical difficulties involved in carrying out such removals, especially from the more distant theatres, the Commission, though with natural reluctance, decided that all such applications must be refused.