SENT TO CHINA FOR BURIAL

■-—-»• .-■■ .-, • BODY OP; TIMARU CHINESE FUNERAL PROCESSION TO LYTTELTON i For only the second time on record in a great many years the embalmed body of a Chinese is being sent from New Zealand to China for burial. The body is that of Willie Young, a Timaru fruiterer, who was killed last June when the car .which he was driving fell from the Kangitata bridge into the fiver r bed,, The body was brought from Timaru yesterday and taken by, road to Lyttelton, 20 or, 30 Chinese "following in a funeral procession. The body is consigned to Hong Kong. It went to Wellington last evening 'by • the Maori, and from there it will be ;aken to Sydney on the Mauriganul. The journey, will be completed on the Chinese vessel Kamo Maru. The body was embalmed in Timaru by Dr. W H:'tin win two months ago, some delay having been necessary for the making, of shipping arrangements. The expense of sending a body from New Zealand to China is considerable, ind this is understood to be the reason why.the desire of Chinese in New Zealand to be buried among their ancestors is so rarely fulfilled. Last year he body of Mr Young Sing Kow, head of the firm of Chew Lee Young, merchants, of Ferry road, Ghristchurch was embalmed and sent to China; but it was stated at the time that it was probably the first occasion on which a body had been sent from Christchurch. Practice Once Common Once it : was fairly common for the bodies of Chinese to be sent back to China from other countries, though it was sometimes difficult to arrange shipment because of the superstitions of sailors about such cargoes. Lead coffins were used as a rule, and sometimes a large number of these were collected and sent in one shipment. It is recorded that, 30 or more years ago, a ship carrying one of these shipments from Australia to China was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. It is said that many of the coffins were washed up on the shores of New Zealand and Australia. . Every Chinese wishes to be buried with his ancestors, but only those of sufficient substance can afford to be so buried. In China the coffins are laid in the family tombs. When a body reache? the country special ceremonies arc performed, and in some cases the tomb? are visited and honoured at the various festivals held each year.