"HIGH COST OF DYING"

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 4717, 16 November 1938, Page 2

"HIGH COST OF DYING"

100 PER GENT. INCREASE IN COST OF BURIAL. REGRET EXPRESSED BY "CHURCH NEWS." Regret at an increase, claimed to be 100 per cent., in the cost of burial in Christchurch public cemeteries is expressed in an article, printed under the heading "The High Cost of Dying," in the latest issue of the "Church News." "One of the unfortunate results of the 40-hour week and the rising cost of living is that to-day it costs exactly 100 per cent, more to be buried in a Christchurch public cemetery than it did a year ago," states the article.

"The City Council has increased the total charge for a single plot and burial therein to £4 10s, the previous I charge being £2 ss. The single plot costs £2 10s, last year £1 ss; the opening of the grave £2, last year £l. "Thus the poor have to complain of the high cost of dying as well as of living. The clergy know only too well what a few pounds extra in the cost of a burial means to even the moderately well off, where the deceased is not covered by a friendly society funeral benefit, which on the avarage provides £3O for the man but only £lO of it towards his wife's funeral. The funeral directors have not increased their charges to any great extent, in spite of the fact that they too are hit by the 40-hour week, and that overtime sometimes costs as much as 8s 3d an hour for casket-making."