The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1875.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 263, 10 April 1875, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1875.

“ We shall sell to no man justice or right: W e shall deny to no man justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.*’

The Reverend Mr. Root has this morning graphically described the present state of the Gisborne Cemetery, or burial ground, and we cordially endorse the views entertained by the rev. gentleman as to the necessity of something being done towards putting the ground in a decent state of repair. We have so often drawn attention to this matter, and with such little practical result, that despair waited only upon our effort. It has been our opinion all along that the representatives or leaders of the church were the proper persons to see to the satisfactory solution of this business ; consequently we are glad to find one of tbeir number moving, at last, in the right direction towards remedying the evils of which Mr. Root so eloquently complains. The rev. gentleman’s complaint is put forth, too, at a very opportune moment. Other magnates of the church are now on a visit to Poverty Bay, and a conference composed of heads of various denominations is desirable, and calculated to bring this much-vexed question to a favorable issue.

Mr. Root makes some very businesslike suggestions which it will be absolutely necessary to carry into effect in the management of the Cemetery, that is, when the ground shall have been handed over by the proper authorities to local custody ; but it is our duty to point out that much has yet to be done, in the shape of preliminaries, before those suggestions can be acted on. In the first place, it will be highly censurable after the notice that has been taken of it, to let any further time elapse before the title to, or bona fide possession of the land, is made good. There seems to be some difference as to whether the General or Provincial Government is the possessor of it, while we are not in the position of being able so far to illustrate the fable as to walk off with the spoil while they twain are wrangling about it. Something, however, must be done, and the sooner communication be opened up with the Government on the matter the better. Secondly, under the Burial Ground Act, the Superintendent is empowered to make rules and regulations relative to the conduct of the Cemetery, and to appoint Trustees for its proper partition and supervision. Perhaps the best way to achieve these objects would be for the clergy of the denominations already here to address the Superintendent on the matter forthwith, under the special terms of the Act which states that “ upon the re- “ quest of the governing body of any “separate religious denomination or “ sect, the Superintendent may, upon “ such terms and conditions, not incon- “ si stent with the known tenets and “ usages of such religious denomina- “ tion or sect, permanently appropriate “ and set apart a portion of any burial “ ground,” Ac. The Act also gives power to such governing bodies to make provision for the maintenance and care of the burial grounds set apart for their exclusive .use. When these difficulties are once sbttled, we opine there would be little hesitation on the part of the public generally to take their share of the work and so put the ground in a decent state; then, so soon as a right has been established, and denominational property recognised, the members of each sect would, willingly, we doubt not, undertake to bear their individual burden.

From a social or domestic (not to say Christian) point of view, the Gisborne Cemetery, or “ Government “paddock” as is its proper and euphonious designation, is a disgrace to us all. The Rev. Mr. Root has not said a word too much in describing the utter, untended, desolateness of this habitation of the dead. A very small sum of money would have kept it from decay, and but little is now required to restore it, but, unfortunately, there is no one to undertake the duty. Individual, unostentatious, charity began the work some years ago ; a portion of the ground has been surveyed, the graves pegged, and a plan of it forwarded to the General Government; but in the absence of any authority to preventit, indiscriminate grave digging has somewhat frustrated the object in view. We hope, therefore, that the matter will be taken up in earnest now, and so remove the standing reproach to which our correspondent has drawn attention.