§ Colonel DAYasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that crosses from the graves of British soldiers in the Cologne military cemetery are being burned by the German authorities as refuse; and what steps were taken by the Imperial War Graves Commission with a view to affording relatives and friends of the soldiers buried at Cologne facilities for obtaining possession of these mementoes?
§ Sir L. WORTHINGTON-EVANSAs regards the first part of the question I am not aware that this is the case. When 2317W permanent headstones have been erected in a cemetery, it is the practice of the Imperial War Graves Commission to burn the temporary wooden crosses, if they are not wanted by relatives, and to have the ashes worked into the soil of the cemetery. Notices have appeared in the Press from time to time informing relatives how they could obtain possession of the wooden crosses should they so desire.