Buril Ground a Wilderness

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 68, 11 June 1927, Page 15

Buril Ground a Wilderness

REMOVING A BLOT NORTH SHORE DECISION The raising of at least £I,OOO for the cleaning up of the footpaths and the draining of O’Neill’s Point Cemetery (eight acres in extent) was resolved on by a public qneeting held at Devonport last night. THE Mayor of Devonport, Mr. E. Aldridge, convened the meeting, largely- as the result of a discussion at the last meeting of the Devonport Borough Council when the cemetery was described as “the worst in New Zealand.” The present state jot affairs was ascribed by Mr. Aldridge to the accumulated neglect of years. The burial ground had been opened in 1890, and there had been 2,000 burials there, and more than half the area has been used. T’he Devonport Borough Council could not shoulder all the blame for the neglect. The relatives of persons laid to rest in the cemetery were in many cases totally indifferent to the state of the graves.

The chapel was admittedly next used for its proper purpose when it was utilised for storing tools, said Mr. Aldridge, but now that the old finebell towers in Devonport were to be dismantled the sheds attached to them for housing the ambulances could be moved to the cemetery. To renovate the chapel would very likely cost £ 15UThe cemetery account was £ll4 in credit.

In reply to Mr. F. E. Mason, the chairman said the revenue was £571, of which £352 went in wages of the sexton and help. Mr. Mason proposed raising the price of lots from £2 10s to a higher figure, saying that at Purewa £l2 was charged.

Several speakers objected to Increasing the charge. The lowest cost of a burial now was about £2l. TAKAPUNA’S PLEDGE Mr. J. Williamson, Mayor of Takapuna,, in pledging liis council’s willingness to find a financial contribution. urged imitating Honolulu, where an “Eyesore Committee” undertook the supervision of parks, cemeteries, etc. The committee was composed of women, and he was proposing to form a similar committee in Takapuna which could have the co-operation of Devonport women in the matter of the cemetery. The Rev. Mark Finch, Congregational minister, declared that for a borough of the size of Devonport the cemetery was not only the worst in New Zealand, but the worst in the world. At a recent burial he was ankle deep in mud in going along the footpath to a grave. One old man complained bitterly of having to leave his only daughter in such a forsaken spot, and he had secured seven volunteers who would keep the grave in order. It was useless to expect private people to battle with the weeds that spread from the unused part of the ground. Mr. Anderson said that at a recent funeral he had to stand in two inches of water. Mr. J. Hislop, deputy-Mayor of Devonport, pointed out that though the Devonport Borough Council, was prepared to keep the graves in order for the sum of 10s per annum, only about a-half dozen persons paid that amount. He suggested circularising tjie relatives of people buried in the cemetery to subscribe. PUBLIC APPEALS A motion by the Rev. Lawson Marsh, who strongly supported the idea of making the whole borough responsible for the work of putting the ground in order, was to the effect that a loan be raised by the Borough of Devonport, but as there was some doubt as to the legality of the proposal and as the heavy expenses attaching to taking a. loan poll would be out of proportion to the amount to be raised, the motion was altered to read that at least £I,OOO be raised by public appeals, and help from the Boroughs of Devonport and Takapuna.

The plans adopted provide for an appeal to the relatives of persons buried in the cemetery, the taking of a house-to-house collection, and an appeal to the R.S.A.r the Patriotic Committee and the Government to subsidise any money raised. Mr. Aldridge said that the £ 114 to the credit of the cemetery would be handed Over by the Devonport Borough Council. A committee was formed to organise the house-to-house canvass.

The Takapuna Women’s Progressive Association offered, subject to the consent of the Supreme Court, to donate the sum of £SO, which the Association has, to provide memorial gates at the cemetery.

Mr. Williamson, Mayor of Takapuna, undertook to have the people of Takapuna interested in the plans for raising money, and the delegate from the Women’s Association volunteered the help of that association. The committee is to meet at the Devonport Borough Council Buildings on Monday evening. The chairman intimated that the Rev. Mr. Wingfield, of the Holy Trinity Church, Devonport, was prepared to donate £5, Mr. Williamson £3 and Mr. A. Brett had promised to make a donation, and others would be forthcoming.