GRAZING SHEEP ON CEMETERY IS ONLY ANSWER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 25, 15 August 1949, Page 5

GRAZING SHEEP ON CEMETERY IS ONLY ANSWER

When a letter (printed on page 4 of this issue) taking exception to the Borough Council’s decision to permit the grazing of sheep on the old cemetery in Domain road was shown to him on Friday, the Town Clerk, Mr L. D. Lovelock, said there seemed to be no other practical answer to the problem, unless it was to poison all growth in the cemetery, leaving it a blackened mess.

He said the Council was fully aware of the fact that a cemetery was a sacred spot, but felt that those whose friends and relatives lay there would rather see it a place of peace and beauty than a blackened idesert or a mass of weeds.

The problem this Borough Council faces in connection with the Domain road cemetery is a problem that has to be faced in regard to built-out cemeteries the world over, Mr Lovelock said, and the Council had given the matter considerable thought and had gone to some trouble to find out how similar problems had been tackled elsewhere.

Grazing sheep on cemeteries is a fairly common practice in the United States, and it has to be admitted that they do give to any landscape an atmosphere of peace. In any event, now that the Beautifying Society has made such a splendid job of cleaning up the cemetery, it would seem very poor appreciation of their efforts if it were to be allowed to revert to its former state.

Now the only users of the Domain Road cemetery are those who have reserved plots, so it is no longer producing sufficient revenue to make a worthwhile contribution to its upkeep. Concerning the correspondent’s query as to whether plot-owners have a say concerning the stocking of the cemetery with sheep, Mr Lovelock said he believes the position to be that a plot owner has full property rights over his own plot, subject, of course, to Borough bylaws. Therefore there would be nothing to prevent anyone from fenc_ ing a plot on which he did not want sheep to encroach. However, the control of the cemetery as a whole is a Borough responsibility, and the Council has taken what i£ considers the best practical action possible in the existing circumstances.