CREMATION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 586, 14 August 1909, Page 10

CREMATION.

"VIEWED AS THE MURDERER'S' ' ; ' /' :'••■ r . Sir,*—A cutting from The'-'Dominion containing a silminary of Mr;-/Wade's reply to the deputation that ■waited upon him asking the Government to erectf'a. crematorium'lias beeii. sent to, me. ;; It : ,is very difficult for iiis in'this ! country to imagine';;why cremation should be "viewei.as the murderer's friend," as over here'nq:murderer in his senses would 'seek cremation where bifrial ivas. available. With .us cremation can be legally carried .out; only-after a coroner's inquest, and upon'.his order, or when two . medical \ men have certified. definitely the cause of'jdeath. V Theso certificates have to be in statutory' form, and .must satisfy the medical Referee "of- th'o''-cremation authority. If they. (16 not do so, he usually-requires an autopsy ;to be made as a condition precedent to cremation. "'■ ''''■■.•■.'.'•;,.'-.'■ .., i .In the case, of ordinary burial, on tho other hsilid, considerablp/V laxity.; exists. In thousands of cases every year,,-burial proceeds ' without of any medical certificates, .as^to^tne'-cause of death at all, and in many-more 'tho certification bold sufficient is -practically worthless.''''..•''' . Apparently -Mr. Wade sets 'a high value or exhumation'as-a means of detecting crime but all trace bfVrriany\organic poisons,/ anc their range 1 is A'wido.'ohc, as decomposition, advances.'/ •• "'• ...'.-' .. Exhumati6n,_ .therefore, 'would -bo uselosi where such poisons had'been uscd, ; ;and over in. the caso of inorganic--'poisons and;vi6 lenco, it seldom provides of itself sulficienevidence to lead to a conviction., Far mon efficacious is the, careful and exhaustive in quiry made, in each case before crematioi ■ takes-place, which, in fact, provides 'tho bc3 safeguard the citizen can have against. beiii| : done ■' to death poison 'or Other "sulitl means." Thus pet-Honitis 'or ; gastritis;'pa's muster as a definite cause ;bf death.'; in^a: . ordinary caso of burial,-but.would at one 1 give, rise to inquiry. if- cither'appeared .'in.. . certificate given ..for .the purposes., of tK Cremation" Act,,,without .a precise'statemen ; s.s to its origin. .'ln. a. word, tha;.policy ;c 1 the cremationist is, in-evcry case- of deatl '. v,6 ascertain''.tho'cause'.'definitely,,whilst, a ; the "facts; are present" arid'.fresh. •: .Ho. leave nothing to chance,, or, exhumation,- and thii not only baffles tho criminal, .but also.adc to the value, of mortality statistics by helj ' ing to .make them accurate.—l ami-etc., ' -I. C. SWINBTJRNE-HANHAM, \, . Hon. ; Secretary, . : . ' Cremation Society of England. ; :London,', July 2, .1909.'., [The paragraph from' The Dominion ti ! ferred'tO by. our correspondent related to r statement made by Mr. -,Wade, 'Premier i ' New;' South Wales. -Wellington has' its' cr r matoriuni, a photograph : of which, was r 3 cently published in The > Dominion, but it " not quite ready for'use.]'' ' '-. ; '.