TARARU CEMETERY.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2128, 29 October 1875, Page 4

TARARU CEMETERY.

Those who have not \isited Tararu Cemetery for some time will, we dare venture to assert,.be both surprised and pleased at the improvements .which' are manifest as the result of the work; Adkethere. The whole of the cemetery, some eight acres in extent, has been fenced completely in, not with'a mere post and rail fence as hitherto existing, but with a well boarded fence, the planks of which are sufficiently.close to prevent the ingress of any animals such as* pigs or goats, causing damage to the walks or shrubs. Tbe funds will not permit of the whole extent of the Cemetery (eight acres in all) being at,' the present, time laid out, and Mr McLaren, under whose supervision and by whose designs the works are carried on, and on whom they certainly reflect great credit, has been obliged to devote his attention to about two and a half acres. This piece is laid out with great taste and skill, the lay of the ground having been taken the utmost advantage of to render the design pleasing; and the walks, which are from seven and a-half to nine feet in width are circular, winding round the side of the hill on which the cemetery is situated. The entire cemetery is laid off into sections for burial purposes to avoid confusion, each section being four feet by eight and there is room for about 650 single graves. The sections ato double, but between the walks and the end of each section there is left a space of four feet for shrubs, &c. So that the entire space between walk and .walk is fully twenty feet. In the middle of the piece which Mr McLaren has taken in hand, there is. a-, reserve on which it is .in-tended,"-'when- the funds are forthcoming to erect a small mortuary chapel. This at present is laid out in grass with flower beds, rocks, shrubs, &c, in a very tasteful manner, as also is another piece of a similar size which is to the right of the entrance gate. In winter it is proposed to dig up the whole of the sections and lay. them "down in grass, which will rbTe-.anotherand much' needed improvement. There is alstf a walk leading from the improved portion of the cemetery to the bush behind, from which lovely views can be obtained. The whole of the improvements appear to be most successfully and taste fully carried out, and it is to be hoped that before long Mr> McLaren's skill may be put into requisition ior- laying out the Shortland cemeter}'. If Tararu with only about sixty graves can lend so much help to putting their cemetery ia order, surely Shortland with more than ten times that, number has need to bestir itself in a similar direction. . ■