CHEAPER FUNERALS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 667, 18 November 1909, Page 8

CHEAPER FUNERALS.

HOW CREMATION MEANS ECONOMIES. A NEW DEPARTURE. ' Seeking Bomo ideas on cremation, a Dominion reporter approached a city undertaker in order, to discuss what seemed to bo a matter of doubt, viz.; which 1 is the cheaper method of disposing of the dead—by,cremation or burial? The undertaker held theiview—a strong one— that croination was not only going to be'the cheaper, but would be the most popular method of. disintegration in the not-far-dis'tant future. .Asked to explain how he came to arrive at that .conclusion, he said that one of the chief ,'ifems of expense in connection with - a funeral-was the cost of tho polished: casket (with, its. silver-plated fittings) : often made of expensive woods which have to --be especially imported for.' the purpose. This item would be almost knocked out in the caso or cremation. It was not at all likely that they would burn what must bo considered a fine piece of cabinet-work,'as most of the good polished'caskets are—that would be useless waste. iWhat will be, and has been done already, is to' confine the body in a whitcpme coffin which will fit into certain standard caskets of approved designs and workmanship ine doors leading to tho furnace will, open the casket will disappear from the view Inside, however, the cheaper coffin, containing tho Coay, will be ;romoved from' the mental casket, and dispatched into the incinerating chamber,,' but the undertaker will claim his casket-which has-really only been-hired and .convey,.it back to his factory, whereit mil bo fumigated m view of future contingencies. proceeding.is reasonable, and is dictated by practical common-sense, and once the-practice'is adopted it will be taken as a.matter.of course.. ■

; There is no disrespect to the dead or anv-■-ones feelings" said the undertaker.. "The .caskets have hitherto been buried'with the body, merely .as a concession to those looking on.' After a funeral most people interested in the deceased wait to see the earth thrown on and m many cases until the grave and their feelings must be respected. ...But. with cremation the last they see oTthe casket jsi equivalent to the last they see before., covers it, and if the body is treated with decency, and economies -' are ef-fected-where'they, are badly needed-in some Sw U i^% a B ood to save the -casket from.tho flames. : The saving in such cases would be at least jeiO.'.?,. f ,Our informant said that"he had approached the Town, Clerk with another idea, which he thought would be welcomed by many, in particular those whose means are, limited.'-' '• Assuming that in the ordinary course a body is cremated, the relatives as a rule fancy that it is incumbent on them'-to-purchase a plotof ground-in the cemetery where the ashes can be interred and' a-- memorial-stone erected.'; The with which the great extent ■of tho :Karon Cemetery is filling up appals those who only make infrequent visits to the municipal buriak ground.;-behind the hill, and already there has been a hint of,the city acquiring more land. It,is pointed.out.that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people in -Wellington have'relatives .buried in the old Sydney Street Cemetery (noir : elosed as far as new graves are concerned), anil-he believes that in many cases people,of advanced,ideas will have deceased members of their, family cremated, and the ashes/interred; in the plots of ground they .or their.forbears u'Uve long,ago: paid for: Thus, if cremation did bwome/a general practice l in the disposal :of our: dead, a, great dear less land would be needed for. cemetery purposes. Even ;at present there is nothing to prevent a person burying the members of his.family'in the family, grave in the old cemetery. There would be far less objection to anyone depositing : a tiny - casket (six ■ inches by ten inches) in an old grave. To look still further ahead, it* may be that the. graves, of the future will ■be ■ vaults, in which may; be jaepbsited the remains of members.of a iamilj;; practically for all time. s .-