1 FEBRUARY 1919, Page 2

It is announced in the Times that the Belgian Government

have decided to preserve the ruins of Ypres as they stand. There could not have been a wiser decision. No one who has seen Ypree could possibly talk of rebuilding it. There is nothing to rebuild. But tragic and profoundly depressing hoop of masonry and rubble though it is, it is a wonderful object. loosen of the shattering cruelty of war. It ought to be preserved as an " awful example," and we suppose that this is the intention of the Belgian Government. As a matter of fact, Ypres is not on a very good site, and the new Ypres could easily be founded on a considerably better site near by.