PROPOSED CEMETERY SITES.

Evening Star, Issue 8611, 3 September 1891, Page 1

PROPOSED CEMETERY SITES.

The City Council have bad under con sideration, Biace the rejection by the Legislative Council of the North Dunedin Cemetery Extension Bill, the qnestion of selecting a fresh site in the vicinity of the town for cemetery purposes. The deliberations of the Council on the subject have been held in committee, but the professional reports which have been furnished respecting two of the proposed sites have been so unfavorable as to practically lead to the abandonment of any ides to acquire either of them.

One of these proposed sites was at the Ocean Beach sandhills, and, by the direction of the mayor, this was inspected early last month by the city surveyor. For the purpose of convenience Mr Mirams, in Hr report to the Council, divided the area into two selections. The first selection, which comprises about fifty acres, is bounded on the west and south by the new Tomahawk road, on the north by an unformed district road, and on the east by a line drawn from tie corner of the Anderson Bay Cemetery. To be more explicit, it is situated between Ttthuna Park and the lice of the Anderson Bay Cemetery and its extension. Mr Mirams is of opinion that this selection is not suitable for cemetery purposes because, geccraliy, there ia only sand available for reducing the surface of the ground to something like uniform and serviceable grades. The cost of reclamation and preparation would, he states, be undoubtedly heavy ; and any advantages that the selection may possess aie more than counter-balanced, in his opinion, by the apparent impracticability of making it suitable for cemetery purposes. The area is too broken and sandy, and is constantly liable to heavy sand drift, and, Mr Mirams thinks, offers little inducement to enter upon any such expenditure as must in any event be entailed in reducing it to a state of cnitability. The second selection is contiguous to and lies eastward of the first, and comprises thirty acres, including the greater part of the Anderson Bay Cemetery extension. This selection, Mr Mirams says, ia apparently the better of the two, having two or three patches available for interment, while the average contour of the ground is also superior; but he specially presses upon the attention of the Council the difficulty presented by the sand drifts. Though it is a more favorable selection than the other, Mr Mirams is bound to say that it does not commend ilself to his judgment as a site capable of being transformed into a cemetery suitable for Dunedin.

At the instance of the Reserves Committee of the City Council, Mr Robert Hay, M. Inst,, C.E., also inspected the proposed sites at Anderson Bay.- His report, which is a very exhaustive one, confirms that furnished by Mr Mirams. The locality Mr Hay regards as most desirable for the desired purpose, being entirely removed frem any thickly-populated laud, and being virtually bounded on at least one-half of the frontage by the Pacific Ocean. The land consists entirely of sand fiats and dunce, partially covered in some places with rough herbage, the surface being very irregular—the site being, in fact, with the exception of a portion of the second section, a succession of hills and hollows, formed by the drift of sand. Mr Hay states the cost of improving the land approximately at L3OS 4s Gi per acre, exclusive of planting, laying cut, and pegging, and exclusive of buildings. Mr Hay sums up his conclusions thus : —“ You will probably have gathered from the tenor of my remarks that my opinion is unfavorable to the establishment of a cemetery on the proposed sites, and I may add that 1 consider the cectione, with the one single advantage of locality, are entirely unsuitable, for the purpose : and I do not think that, with this exception, a more unfavorable site could be selected. The difficulties of bringing the ground iuto a condition that will admit ot interimnts taking place, the bleak and exposed situation, sand-drift frem the Ocean Beach, the difficulties of drainage, and above all the excessive cost of the necessary works, all combine to render the scheme an entirely undesirable one from every point of view.” The City Surveyor has also inspected and reported upon a proposed site, which is cn the east side of the Town Belt, adjoins the Northern Cemetery, and is included within the Borough of North-east Valley. It comprises eighty-eight acres, but Mr Mirams seta sixty acres aside at once as being too steep to render them of any value for cemetery purposes, A detailed examination of the section convinced him that it would not be advisable for the Council to put chase it. Only about one-third could in any sense be said to be suitable, and even this area presents, Mr Mirams states, such diffi-ultica and disadvantages that he has no hesitation in advising the Council to abandon the idea of acquiring the property. In an addendum to one of his report*, the City Surveyor suggests a possible site to the Council. He says that should they at any time contemplate a site to be reached ly rail, he weald draw their attention to a 50-acre section belonging to the Corporation, situate about half a mile beyond the Mosgiel station, The railway passes through it, and the site would, he believes, be in every way suitable.

Two other sites were bronght under the notice of the Council by correspondence read at the meeting last night—one being at Wakati, and the other at St. Leonards.