A WIFE’S WISH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5317, 24 August 1928, Page 1

A WIFE’S WISH.

BODY TO BE CREMATED. HUSBAND’S PARTING WITH ASHES Eight bells chimed out on the steamer Tofua. bound from Auckland to Fiji, it was midday, 200 miles north east of North Cape (N.Z.), Captain McDonald reached fo>r the telegraph and the steady chug, chug, of the engine ceased. The ship glided forward through the .water under her own mom eh-t um. Down af the stern stood two men, bareheaded, and betwieeji them a cleverly-made, solid oaken casket, just such a casket as is supplied by ■the, Sydney Crematorium. There were ashes in the caS|ket.

One of the men was a minister, the Rev. Frank Hayman, of the Methodist Church, obeying the lure of the South Pacific Islands—a tourist for a time.

The second man, short, sto,ut, sa,dfaced, was F. L. Clave, well-known among riflemen in New South Wales, and a popular sport. The. two were cabin mates, and to the man of the church the rifleman had told the story of the casket, had enlisted his sympathy, and they had gonje together to the Tofua’s stern to cast into the Pacific (he allies of the rifleman’s beloved wife. Ten years before, Mr Clave had met and married Miss Montford, a daughter! of Mr Benjamin Mountfor.d, ope oif New leading architects, the man whose .name is always coupled with Christchurch Cathedral, and ihajiiy other important New Zealand buildings. When she became ill and knew that soon she. wo.uld die sjhe asked' that her. body be noit buried, but cremated. This, was done, and her husband was given the casket containing the ashes:.

What to do Xvith them ? Many jdea.s came to him, but in the back of his mind-was the thought that she would have liked to have been buried near her kin, in New Zealand. —that they would like to have her buried near them.

Business took him to, England. The casket went with hbn, carefully packed! in his trunk. In England it reposed: safely in his bedroom. Later he returned to Australia, Anally aCceptng a position with the Fiji Government. Always the casket .was near him, but always, it had a 'depressing effecti on him, causing him to think of the might-have-been. Now, however, was the opportunity He would take the casket, to New Zealand. In New Zealand, however, the idea was not met with enthugiam and someone' suggested burial a,t sea. The casket was packed qiice more and taken aboard the Totfua, and the in;cidte,nce of his having been placed in a cabin with the minister, of the church finally decided Mr Clave that, his course of action wa,s plainly marked out.

The ship slowed down, and reverently the casket was dropped into.t he sea, while the clergyman read the short burial service.

Agojnised, the rifleman watched it drop slowly astern;. It refused to sink, in spite of its great weight. He felt like jumping in afjter it.

He was assured, however, that it was only a matter of time and the casket would settle to the bottom. He had to accept the. assurance, and returned tej his stateroom.

The telegraph clanged, the engines started up, and the ship again, forged forward toj Fiji. For only a day on two short of nine months the casket had been carried rqund the world, scarcely out of sight of its) guardian.