The Disinterment of Chinamen.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1798, 2 September 1902, Page 5

The Disinterment of Chinamen.

(• Bruce Herald.’)

A considerable exodus of Chinese has taken place in this colony during the last few years. Most, if not all, the celestial emigrants are returning to the Flowery Land, and now that others contemplate removing, the Chinese love of their departed kinsman is exemplified in a manner, which to Europeans, to say the least,is revolting in its ghoulishness. We refer to the wholesale disinterment of Chinese corpses taking place in this Island at the present time, From information received, it appears that the bodies of upwards of 400 Chinamen (recently disinterred) are now reposing in depots—chiefly in Greys mouth and Dunedin—awaiting transport to their fatherland. On Thursday morning a party of ten almond-eyed strangers arrived in Milton, and ens quiries as to the purport of their mission elicited the fact that they intended res moving all that remained of a deceased countryman, who had been silently reposing in the Fairfax cemetery for seven long years. Armed with spades, shovels and grappling irons, the squad under tbe supervision of a half-caste chinaman, proceeded to work. When the Jong buried coffin was brought to light, the scene which followed baffles description. It would take the imaginative pen of a Zola or a Defoe to fittingly describe in realistic language the revolting nature of the proceeding to a European. The modus operandi as described, is as follows :—The Chinese after immersing their hands in some antiseptic wash, open the coffin and commence to remove any particles of flesh still adhering to the skeleton f they then smoke the bones in an ordinary riddle, and afterwards hold the collection in a wire sieve over a brightly burning fire to ac«omplish the final cleansing. The recital of this is sickening enough in cold print, but the reality—faugh! And yet this is th« sort of thing that has been going on in Greymouth for months, and is now being daily performed by a paid band of Celestials throughout the South Island. No doubt it may be said that the disinterment of chinamen (who have died in a foreign country) by their fellows i> in accordance with ancient Chinese religious or national obligations, but such a barbaric custom is hardly justifiable considering the sanitary aspect of the matter, judged from a European stand-point. According to accounts, which appear most reliable, nearly every chinaman in New Zealand has contributed something, according to his means, and the work is being carried out by a contractor and nine men. Those who contribute are presented with a ticket, with the amount stated thereon, and this 1s negotiable in some way when the pilgrims return to China. It is estimated that an expenditure of £20,000 (including the charter of a steamer, etc.) will have been entailed before the skeletons can be landed ia China. Altogether the remains of about 450 chinamen will be shipped. The contractors have been engaged on their unenviable and repulsive task for about tea months now, and anticipate that their labors will be completed in another two months.

The carriage of the skeletons is also a matter of comment from a sanitary point of view. The bones after removalfrom the original coffin, are placed in zinc lined teak boxes. There is nothing suggestive about these, and being varnished they might pass for ordinary travelling trunks. This receptable of what was once a human being is consigned to the depot by train, and the tools used in disinterment are bundled into the railway truck anyhow. The thought of a consignment of potatoes, or other articles of diet, coming to you by the same truck next day is not inspiring. Surely this is a matter for the Health Department. 1