FUNERAL REFORM.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 226, 1 March 1875, Page 3

FUNERAL REFORM.

At a meeting of gentlemen interested in the formation of a Funeral Reform Association in Dunedin, tbe following report from the sub-committee was read : “Your committee have had numerous meetings, and after considering and discussing all the information on the subject of funeral reform which they have been able to procure, report as follows : “i. They find that a decent and appropriate funeral for an adult can be obtained for four pounds ten shillings (£4 10s), exclusive of cemetery charges, if the hereinafter proposed association supplies a carriage for the conveyance of the coffin. “2. Up to the present time they are unable to find that any association with a like object is in operation in either of the colonies, but preliminary meetings have been held at Sydney, Adelaide, and Christchurch. ‘The conditions of membership in the Sydney Funeral Reform League embrace a declaration to the effect that the members of the association will, as far as may be possible, dispense with all decorations upon coffins, excepting the inscription plate and emblems of faith ; discontinue the employment of mutes, abolish the use of palls, scarfs and bands, and discontinue the providing of gloves ; that the hearses should not carry plumes ; that the horses should neither wear clothes, plumes, nor trappings ; that funerals should not move at the present slow pace ; that processions should no longer be formed at the residences of the deceased, and that the friends of the departed shall join the procession at the Mortuary, or Cemetery, instead ; that ordinary attire should only be worn, with a black band across the arm of males, in the case of a friend ; two black bands in the case of a relation, and three black bands upon the loss of a wife or parent; and that females should also wear their ordinary attire at funerals, with bands as above, and with or without a black veil, with one, two, or three falls, so to show their relation to the deceased.” The following resolutions among others, were carried:—“That an association be formed to be called the Dunedin Funeral Reform that any person subscribing'the sum of 2s 6d per annum towards the funds of the Association be a member thereof, and entitled to the benefit of any contract entered into by the Association, and to the use of its conveyance for the funeral of any of his or her household.” “ That in the opinion of this Association the present style of mourning is unnecessarily expensive, and that it should be deemed sufficient for men to wear a band of crape or cloth on the hat or arm. They would also recommend that in the case of women and children a more simple dress es regards color and materials be adopted.”