WIFE'S BODY KEPT

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 59, 7 September 1945, Page 9

WIFE'S BODY KEPT

THREE YEARS UNBURIED

P.A. AUCKLAND, Sept. 6. The body of a woman who died in Auckland in 1942 has been kept in a coffin for over three years in a shed at the rear of a seaside cottage in the upper reaches of Auckland harbour. The husband of the woman intends to transfer his. wife's remains to a mausoleum to be built in a cemetery as soon as the necessary materials can be obtained. These facts were discovered recently by detectives who investigated a complaint made to the police by a woman. The Health Department also made the • fullest inquiries, and says there is no law making it compulsory to dispose of a body either by burial or cremation. The police are satisfied that nothing sinister is involved in this strange case. The woman's death resulted from natural causes, and the death was registered at the time. The husband, a highly-respected citizen, simply decided to build a mausoleum, but found it impossible to proceed with the project, owing to shortages of the necessary materials. The body was embalmed by a local firm of undertakers and remained on their premises for a period, but eventually had to be removed because of a shortage of space. The body was contained in a sealed lead casket, which was placed in a double coffin, whicfl was" later removed to the husbands seaside cottage, where it remains in a locked shed. . "This is the first case of the kind I have ever heard of in New Zealand, said the medical officer of health, Dr. T J Hughes, today. He added that the Cemeteries Act took it for granted that a body would either be buried or cremated. "My officers and also the police have carefully investigated the case and found everything in order," he said. I The Health Department is now endeavouring to assist the husband in having the mausoleum built.