A CEMETERY SENSATION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 533, 15 January 1913, Page 5

A CEMETERY SENSATION.

HtiAPS OF COFFINS AND BONES

DUG UP TO MAKE ROOM,

By Telegraph—Press AssooiaUon.—Copyrigiit Hobart, Tuesday.

A revolting state of affairs has been revealed in connection with the Queensborough cemetery. A gravedigger who was dismissed made a statement to the Healh Department and the press, wherein he alleges that it has"been the practice to remove coffins from the graves in order to permit fresh burials. There was no room to replace the disinterred shells nor their gruesome 'contents, the result being that they were piled on one another on rubbish heaps, and in some instances burnt. On one occasion, in trying to find room for an-, other coffin his pick pierced the lid of the shell and embedded itself in the skull, which was dragged from the casket. Dr Sprott, reporting to the Board of Health, says he has verified many of the gravedigger's statements, more particularly regarding the inability to replace coffins after the fresh burial. He had no hesitation in saying that the method of disposing of the dead filled him with horror and amazement. It constiutes a real danger to the public health.

HEALTH INSPECTOR'S REPORT.

Hobart, This Day. Inspector Wadsworth of the Public Health Department, reporting on the Queensborough cemetery, examined rubbish heaps. There were remains of fires in different part and he found the remains of a child's coffin partly consumed by fire, also two bones. He found another small coffin in another heap. The grave digger informed him the coffins were removed at the chairman's instructions four months ago in order to put another body in the grave. Another heap disclosed a large heap number of broken coffins.