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10.18 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. John Spellar): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Great Yarmouth (Mr. Wright) on securing this debate and on his choice of subject for his maiden speech. We were pleased to hear his vivid description and interesting historical examples of his home town, which is also his constituency. I suspect that he will be representing its interests for many years to come.
The people in Great Yarmouth, like all of us, are rapidly approaching the millennium with considerable optimism and the cautious expectation that this country will enter the new century during a relatively stable period of world peace.
As my hon. Friend has reminded us, 50 years ago things were vastly different. The United Kingdom had withstood the onslaught of belligerent powers and, with her allies, won through to ultimate victory. But at what cost? Half a century on, it is perhaps too easy to forget the tremendous impact that the second world war had on all aspects of our society, and the suffering that had been endured by so many.
It is right, in these last years of the second millennium, to focus our attention on the veterans of both world wars, but it is equally important for us to remember those who were not so fortunate and who never returned home to their families after the victory. The moving poems and the extracts of the diary read by my hon. Friend brought that home starkly and graphically.
However, some suffered far more than others. One group in particular stands out as having suffered to an extraordinary degree during the second world war. I refer of course to those who were captured in the far east. Many prisoners of war were forced to work in appalling conditions, with inadequate food, medical supplies and shelter. As my hon. Friend has so eloquently reminded us, many died in what is now Thailand, building the Burma-Siam railway: the so-called death railway immortalised in the film "The Bridge on the River Kwai".
I must make it clear at the outset that the nation and the Government have the utmost respect for, and are grateful to, all those who fought and died in the far east during the second world war. Despite the passing of more than half a century, we are all still very much aware of the tremendous hardships endured by the 61,000 British, Australian, Dutch and American prisoners of war, and the Asian labour, who were forced by their captors to build the Burma-Siam railway using the most primitive tools in the most primitive conditions.
However much we may try to understand two generations later, no memorial can ever adequately reflect their suffering, or the debt that we owe those men,
particularly the 13,000, including Lance Corporal Smith, who lost their lives so far away. I assure my hon. Friend that every effort is made to ensure that they are all properly commemorated. In recognition of their sacrifice, the Government will continue to honour their obligation to fund the United Kingdom's contribution to the commemorative work carried out by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. I thank my hon. Friend for the kind references that he made to the excellent work undertaken by the commission in Thailand and around the world on behalf of our war dead.
As elsewhere throughout the world, the commission does sterling work in the Commonwealth, often in spite of less than perfect conditions, especially climatic conditions. A relevant case in point is their work to maintain more than 15,000 war graves in Thailand, as well as memorials to those who were missing or who died and have no known grave.
The graves of those who died during the construction and maintenance of the Burma-Siam railway--except Americans who were repatriated--have been transferred from the camp burial grounds and many solitary sites along the railway line into three war cemeteries. I apologise to the House if my pronunciation is not accurate. The Kanchanaburi and Chungkai war cemeteries are in Thailand; the third cemetery is at Thanbyuzayat in what was formerly Burma but is now known as Myanmar. Chungkai war cemetery is the original burial ground of one of the prisoners-of-war base camps, and many of the burials are of those who died in hospital. Kanchanaburi war cemetery contains the remains of those who died and were buried along the southern half of the railway from Bangkok to Nieke. Those who died along the northern half are buried at Thanbyuzayat in Burma.
The Government also give assistance to the war widows grant in aid scheme, which is administered by the pilgrimage department of the Royal British Legion. It was introduced in 1985 to provide financial assistance to enable any service widow whose husband was buried overseas between 1914 and 1967 to visit his grave. Since 1967, the practice has changed in that the next of kin of those who died while serving overseas have had the option to have the remains repatriated if they so wished. The grant contributes seven eighths of the cost of a pilgrimage organised by the Royal British Legion pilgrimage department, which has done an excellent job. The remaining eighth of the cost is borne by the widow.
Since its inception in 1985, the scheme has enabled more than 3,000 widows to visit their husbands' graves in some 40 different countries. There have been seven pilgrimages to Thailand during that period, which have enabled 84 widows, who would not otherwise have been able to visit their husbands' last resting place, to pay their final respects. The scheme has been extended three times because of the sheer number of widows who wished to avail themselves of the opportunity to visit war graves throughout the world, and it is due to end on 31 March 1999. I am pleased to say that the Government have allocated £297,000 to fund the scheme during the last two years of its operation.
I must again stress that we have the greatest sympathy for those men and their families, and we acknowledge the need for remembrance and commemoration, but it has been a long-standing policy of successive Governments of different political persuasion that the cost of memorials
to the dead, both service and civilian, are traditionally erected following a public appeal for private donations. Public funding is not usually made available.
The only exception, where we understand public money was used, is the memorial plaque to those killed in the Falklands war, which was erected in St Paul's cathedral in the mid-1980s. The then Prime Minister expressed the wish that the memorial be funded by the Government. The memorial to those killed in the Gulf war was funded by public subscription, primarily by British expatriates who were resident in Kuwait, which re-established previous practice.
As we all know, war memorials are a familiar part of the landscape of the majority of towns and villages throughout the British Isles. They also stand on many former battlefields and near war cemeteries overseas. They are a firm and lasting testament to the spirit of the nation, and a tangible tribute to those who fell in battle in two world wars and other conflicts. Their value to successive generations is obvious. We must not forget the sufferings of our forebears. The names engraved on the countless monuments here and overseas should force each new generation to think before acting, lest we repeat the errors of the past.
Responsibility for the maintenance of war memorials in the United Kingdom rests with local authorities. The War Memorials (Local Authorities' Powers) Act 1923, as amended by the Local Government Act 1948 and the Parish Councils Act 1957, governs the care of war memorials. Councils are empowered to spend public funds on war memorials from money that is raised through the council tax.
After both world wars, memorials have often been raised overseas by regiments or formations such as divisions in recognition of their fallen comrades. Those memorials are usually located on former battlefields or near the official war cemeteries maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Responsibility for funding the maintenance of those memorials rests with individual regiments or formations where they still exist, such as the world war two memorial to the 2nd Division at Kohima in India. For the older first world war memorials, where regiments have been disbanded or the division no longer exists, the British Government have undertaken to fund their maintenance through the commission. That ensures that those commemorated on such monuments of both world wars are not forgotten.
My hon. Friend will understand that the Government and the Ministry of Defence in particular receive many requests from individuals, ex-service men's groups and
charitable organisations for assistance to fund war memorials. It would not be possible, nor would it be fair, to be seen to support one group rather than another. The vast majority have understandable and worthy goals and can make an equally compelling case for support. It could be divisive, and open to criticism from unsuccessful claimants, if the Government were to pick and choose projects to support.
Even in connection with the proposed Hellfire pass memorial, it would appear from recent correspondence that there may be slightly differing views among ex-service organisations as to how best to commemorate the far east prisoners of war. Therefore, the erection of a war memorial may not necessarily be everybody's first or preferred choice.
I should like to mention one further point, which was recently mentioned in the press and was also referred to by my hon. Friend. Following the end of the second world war, the assets of the Burma-Siam railway were indeed sold to the then Siamese Government for £l.25 million. However, the bulk of that sum was used to recompense the identifiable owners of rolling stock, locomotives and rails, which had been removed by the Japanese from Burma, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. Some £l75,000 which remained was added to the reparations of more than £4.5 million which were offered by the Japanese Government, and accepted, in 1951. That fund was subsequently distributed to some 59,000 former prisoners of war and civilian internees through the Department of Health and Social Security and the International Committee of the Red Cross. In addition, some money was distributed to voluntary funds for the general benefit of former Japanese prisoners of war.
We fully appreciate the aims of those seeking support for the memorial at Hellfire pass. I am grateful for this opportunity to wish the organisers every success in their endeavours, and we will be happy to provide representation at any dedication ceremony, should the necessary funding be raised. We will also be more than willing to suggest avenues to explore as part of the fund-raising efforts.
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