Tombstone fee up, and down

Press, 5 July 1978, Page 6

Tombstone fee up, and down

The Chrfstchttrch City Council had “excelled itself in its greed” irk raising fees for cemetery monuments from 90c to $5, the parks and recreation committee was told yesterday. Mr J. B. Lagjan, of Decra Art and Blast, Ltd. said that persons putting up tombstones in Christclairch cemeteries were “getting nothing” for the fee. “You have had a feast for years, and I don’t see why you should have a greater one now,” said Mr L'egan. After a motion by the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr H. G. Hay), the committee recommended that the fee be

| reduced to $2.50. But wh> ■ ever service the council pro vided in controlling and inspecting placement of grave markers should be “cut to the bone,” he said. The Dirrttor of Parks and Recreation (Mr H. G. Gilpin) admitted that the council had been wrong in the past in not providing proper con trol over monumental masons. If a tombstone had gone in without a permit, as had been alleged by Mr Lagan, it had been the department’s fault. The committee’s chairman (Cr P. N. G. Blaxall) said the amount of work being done now involving such permits justified the fee.