OUR CEMETERIES.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1250, 3 July 1880, Page 3

OUR CEMETERIES.

TO THE EDITOB. Sib,— l was gla«J to see in Tuesday's

issue of your paper that someone had thought it wortn while td comment upon the disgraceful condition of the cemeteries in the 1 Waikatoy . He is not the only " mourner " whose feelings have been outraged by seeing the evidence of gross negligence on the part of so - called Trustees, to wit, everybody with any interest in the Hamilton cemetery. The portion of ground dignified by this name was originally laid outbya surveyor, with site for a mortuary chapel in the centre, footpaths, and broader roads for conveyances — these, howevei*, have to be taken on trust, all traces of them having vanished ;so far so good. And then the Eroperty was vested in Trustees, and it as never occurred to that able body of men from that day to this to have the grass mown, though meu would not have been hard to find who would have rendered the cemetery this service and taken the hay for their trouble. For long months the fences were so imperfect that cows and horses have been at full liberty to make themselves at home in the resting-place of the Lord's dead ; and not a few were the hoof-marks visible on the "little hills" brought into notice from the long rank grass and fern, by means of these intruders. The graves have, however, been mended, and a larger gate placed at the* entrance, but so closely padlocked that those who wish to enter for a quiet time, finding no small , gate or other mode of entrance, must fain climb over the ditch and fence, or else lie down flat on the ground and struggle underneath as best they may. Two years ago, an attempt was made to have a portion of the cemetery set apart for church people, and vested in trustees, to be elected at the annual church meeting, ensuring by success such decency and order in some portion of it, though the remainder might still remain like the roadside. But this like all other efforts in Hamilton, which have God's Glory for their first object, and the comfort of decent and devout Christians for their second, was indignantly poohpoohed by the Trustees (?). Now, Sir, is it that we have less heart here than we had in the old country (where emerald turf and neatly trimmed borders are not grudged the care needed), or are we so busy making money that we have no time wherein to thmk of our blessed dead, but just lay them in the ground, with as little ceremony as may be, and then leave them as we 1 would the remains of a horse or a dog. to let grass grow rank above them, and the cattle wander over them at will ? Can nothing be done to remedy so crying an evil ? If our dead have no claim on any of the public monies, could not a sum be raised, as your Ngaruawahia correspondent suggests, or by subscription, to pay a man, if only for one day in the week, to maintain some sort of order and decency in the one spot of all others, which should have a claim on the interest of us all ? — I am, &c, More Mournful Still.