The Evening Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1870.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 277, 29 November 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1870.

Theke is a motion of a very interesting character on the notice paper of the Provincial Coundil/totbaßaOvMby Mr. P. A. Philips: " That a respectful address be presented to Hifc Honor

the Superintendent requesting him to take steps at the first ineetirg of the G-eneral Assembly, to introduce a bill empowering him to close the. ; .b,urial grounds in Symonds-street, arid to make provision in lieu^thejeof".",,; %\ may seem at first sight rather a roundabout way for attaining the object inj tended, by instituting the movement in the Provincial Council; but there cannot be a doubt that a subject involving so many interests, and the tenderest feelings of which our humanity is capable, is wisely submitted to the consideration of our local legislature ; and that opinions there expressed, will weigh with the members of the General' Assembly should the movement take the form indicated. The deleterious; effect of cemetries on the health of a community resident in their immediateneighbourhood is no longer a subject of question; and the uniform .a.ctipn of most of the large cities and towns in the mother country bears testimony •to a general conviction that the last resting place of departed friends should be removed from the neighbourhood of the living. However cleanly and properly a cemetery may be kept, however absent any sensible, effluvium from the" bodies mouldering^ in decay, however disinfecting the acknowledged power of the ¥tfil,"it is admitted that gases do escape, bearing in them thetJeeds of sickness and" mortality ; and t"he, tendency which cholera and other maladies ""■fchaFFeeH" on the poison of miasma, have shown to make their hiiMe^ti'tnfe'iiei^hbour--hood of city cemeteries affords conclusive testimony to-the wisdom-of- ceasing to inter the dead in the midst of the homes of the living. But irrespeotive^oi^thesfe SaH'atOry.' grounds, it is time that in out- own circumstances provision on a more exr fended scale should \e ri^de for^thje HlarialW the'eteadbf fche-tity. Tlfe extent of the grounds at present devoted to the purpose is wholly inadequate,- and a necessity jwdii • very, shortly arise, if it do'eVnoi at present

exist, for the more decent burial of the dead. The crowded state of some of the graves, and the total impossibility of any extension of the present grounds necessitate a change, and it is satisfactory to observe.that Mr. Philips, who as Chairman of the City Board, is specia|ly charged with the interests of; r citizens,:,lias taken the matter in hatticU'.. The closing of a cemetery will naturally give rise to feelings sometimes of a painful kind. Of course there is not contemplated any interference with the sacred dust, or disturbance of that repose associated in our minds with the last resting place of those who have turned aside from the fevered anxieties of life; but there is a .sacred feeling with some involved in the desire that they* should at last mingle their ashes with kindred dust; and we cannot avoid a tender sympathy with those who, united in life, in death would not be divided. And whatever legislation there may be on the subject, the closing of the cemeteries must not be rigorously and peremptorily effected ; but, for many years to come, occasional concessions must be made to the sacred feelings of bereavement, and from time to time the gates of the cemetery should be opened to- gratify last wishes earnestly expressed, and to permit the loving in life to sleep side by side in death. On these conditions there can be no valid objection toTthe:wise proposal of Mr. Phillips ; arid we feel confident that in his hands the matter will be so judiciously and tenderly treated as to cause no distress to feelings 'of affectionate remembrance.

Should the measure proposed receive the legislative sanction desired, great care should be used in the selection of our future burial ground. It should be sufficiently removed from the city to obtain an extensive area, without exorbitant expense, and to prevent the necessity of its further removal for many generations. At the same time it should not be so far removed as to needlessly increase the burial expenses of the poor. In no way could the various qualifications desirable in a cemetery be so well obtained as by selecting a site on the line of,the .future "Waikato railway, afterthfe banner of "the Haslem's Creek cemetery at Sydney: By such an arrangement, and with funeral cars on the railway, and with funeral trains at stated hours, when the necessities of the population required them, the expenses of funeral obsequies are not increased ; and with all the advantages of distance, the graveyard is practically in the neighbourhood of surviving friends. It is sincerely to be desired that the subject will receive that consideration * and judicious treatment which is due to its importance, and to its tender- an!d"' sacred and solemn character.