TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 17, 23 January 1891, Page 16

TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS.

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T the present moment two questions of very great importance are before the public for discussion and decision. These are : the removal of the cemeteries from this city and the erection of a new Hospital. In these two questions many others are involved, as, for example, the health of the city and the progress of medical science. It is to be hoped that in both cases a wise decision may be made. It is quite unnecessary to delay in adducing arguments in favour of the removal of the cemeteries from this city to the country, if the question be yiewed apart from pecuniary considerations as regards indi-

viduals, for as to the public at large, nothing of a pecuniary character is to be gained, bat, on the contrary, a great deal is to be lost. This is self-evident, and is a point on which we fancy all are agreed. But the consideration, as far as individuals are concerned, ought not to be permitted to preTail as against the public good. There is no Joubt cemeteries in the midst of a dense population are a menace to the public health ; on this all are agreed. And such being the case it appears strange that any hesitation should exist as to the propriety of immediate action on the part of the citizens of Dunedin. Here there are two cemeteries in the very midst of the people, and as there appears no insuperable difficulty in applying a remedy, why should the remedy be deferred ? The only difficulty we have heard mooted is the additional expense to which the Corporation would be put in providing • general cemetery at a sufficient distance from the city and the increased expenditure this would involve so far as the funerals of the poor are concerned. The first is not worth serious consideration. The new cemeteiy would more than pay for itself, and would cause no additional burden to be placed on the finances of the Corporation, and surely some arrangement could be made by which the funerals of the poor would not cost any more than at present. What has been done elsewhere can be done here. An arrangement could be made whereby a funeral train or tram could be despatched daily at certain hours to the new cemetery, as is done in London and the other great cities of England at a very moderate expense. It is easier to make such an arrangement here than in England where the railways are not pubUc property as they are here. This is a question that cannot be safely postponed, and which, therefore, demands prompt decision. Our cemeteries are already nearly full, and new burial accommodation must be provided immediately. It is hopeless to expect that any part of the town reserve can be utilised in this direction ; and even if a part of the Town Belt could be procured, it would not be wise to continue intermural burials. The Corporation ought to lose no time in coming to a final decision on this point, and procuring Afty, or «yen a hundred, acres for a cemetery in a suitable place at a sufficient distance from the city. Parliament ought to be aeked to enable the city to take such a quantity of land in a suitable locality at a fair valuation. We say this because it is not at all unlikely that an exorbitant sum might be asked by the vendor. It is for the interests of citiiens to press this subject on the attention of our City Fathers, and to insist that no time be lost in coining to a decision on the matter. As to the desirability and even necessity of erecting a new Hospital there is, we should say, no difference of opinion, certainly not on the part of any who are competent to form an opinion on the subject, and we think that the ■uggested site on the Town Belt is wise. We have no sympathy with the bigoted presence of our endowments, when such a project as the erection of a new Hospital is concerned. And we think some portion of the Town Belt could not be more usefully applied than as a site for a new Hospita 1 . Indeed we go further and say that in our opinion some part of our reserve could be and ought to be sold, in order to provide funds for the beautifying of what would remain. In our opinion, a part of the Town Belt could be so disposed of greatly to the interests of the citizens, the beauty of the rest, and the promotion of the sanitary condition of Dunedin and its suburbs.