THE CEMETERY.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 52, 28 June 1879, Page 2

THE CEMETERY.

The meeting called by advertisement withregardto" the state of the cemetery, wus held in|tlie Town Hall, on Wednesday. . >In the absence of his Worship, who was at the sitting of the .Education Board, Mr. James Lin'tph was culiecl to <;ha chair. In opening jilie- proceedings the CraieArAN stated that .when he camp to the meeting he had no idea that he would be called upon to preside. He had however a few statistics, with regard .to th» cemetery which he would place before them. The sta.to of the cemetery account stood thus. The banks were owed £62:13*. 9d., against which there wis on hand the sum of sixteen shillings. The object of the meeting was to devise means |tb pay off tliat indebtedness, and raak* arrapgements for the future iinproTftneiit of the cemetery,aiid, might he say, . better management. It would- be in the recollection of most -present that when ttießitb was handed over it wa» simply a dence bush,, but that it had been cleared and fenced at an, eiperice of £li33s, 7d. Th£ bqlanco of (hat' money had been subscribed from time to,thno, by the inhabitants, with t>he exception o|,£Bj \yhich h^d been handed to tlie trustees,- as the donation of the Jew- . ish denomination, on. the 26th' of last October. That represented at that date (the share due b,y that body of the total dpty of £72. ;At;a.'mfleting of the trustees it lia9 been decided to apportion the debt' amongst the Various • denominations in prooorfcion to '■to\the.ii^j^. ; held.hy^.h'piTii,-whic-li v - IBra1 BraB l as folloAvs i Catholics, £20 ; J^ews £8 jpTotcstaipts, £ii. He the ;^t>he Gha^rman) ,as ,Secre'ary, applied for payment and in < reply received from the- Jews, '£$ ; the .Catholics "icroj'ined him tliat if wa«'^<|?jifce-':iin|(68 r ibife' for them to raisQ the sum of' £^2o. With regard to the flp^povlionnientir o£> the debt ambugst l?rote«Unt donoininations s the membors p| the Church of. England offered to take their portion of the land and pay their share of tlie burden accordingly. Then a difficulty arose as to who should p,ay the balance still to be' met. The Wesleya^s ,W§ye agipjeable to p,ay ona-half, provided the would pay the -other . half. • This "cpulil. not, be. arrange^ a^ the. time, and the mattarvifjw left as it was found that night. The question. then wa3-^-H6w were thay to pay tl,e. am_i\nt of the claim, nn'd g^t out of the, difficuliy P v His own opinion was that'll would have to ; be-done on the old-fa,9hioned principle -r-narne^y by sub-, "scription — but in saying that he. felt that it. could be done, easily if each ona would only Cipjel and think that the Ceruetery had a peciiliar cjiiim on hi* attention and' ptirse. iEvery man in.the. district might natt\]j;-ally expeottp make use of tliat peculiar piece of land sooner- or later, cpnsc,que.ntly .every man asct.. { woman should as iqr diity r t>o'und ; dp something towards imprpyinfr 'Most people had some experience of what, it was to live in debt, hut few could tell what th'eir ieelihgswpuld be when they carne to the dying point; and knew' pei"f ectily wpjl that rthey were' going to be buried iii a ll'iece of ;land which was to all intuiits "and purposes a -bankrupt. That, he held, b|ioul<l not, be s; ; They ßhduTd have morere«pejet for ; their puolio rnstiimions'fchttn appeard, to bd the ctiia in the;, instance tindeiv review. They./ ' were ; flll interested in the ,. advancement of thp;dVpri?fc.t I; .ey.liad,uir to/bear the.'r.shuje in contributing towards that advanclement. They were all phased: with their proiif r.by . so far ; and juotly so ; and they should feel ashftmedi at b«i|| -^ ofteu tol^ ,l(htt^ their

cemel ry is a standing disgrace to 'them as i'a community. He (the chairman) freely admitted ashamed of its unsightly appearance and would gladly do all in .his power to remove the long-standing reproacfo He-would' likewise point out that after the debt was removed they had still a. lot to do in the way of stumping and levelling the gi'jund, for until that were done they could not possibly get it surveyed into sections : norcould they do anything towards laying off footpaths, which was a most necessary undertaking. When they had succeeded .in getting that work. done, they would then begin to get some revenue byVay of selling burial sites from time to time ; i>esidos it would place them -in a position to collect the usual burial fees. All such items would very soon make the institution self Buppnrt ing. This is what should be, and what would be if persons in the districts would do hi3 or her duty. He would recommend the appointment of a Cem :tery Committee to carry out the various projected improvements, and likewise some one to collect the usual burial fees and tee to mutters generally. This office he thought could be best attended to by the Town Clerk, who was Registrar of Denths, persons requiring the neeessasy certificates could get 'them at the one place, which would be a great public convenience. He just made thbie few snggestions hoping that before the meeting separated, some measures would be- taken so ..that they would be able to say their Geme--tery would be but of debt. Mr. Dusxjan said he presumed the course which would be adopted would be the opening of a subscription list, and if that weredone, he trusted application would be maclo to the Borough Council and Highways Board for assistance. He would propose that beside the lists which should be ready for. subscription, a general canvass of the town should be made. There were at the lowest calculation fro&i 250 to 330 heads of families within the Borough, and if each one of theso were to contribute five* shillings a sum sufficient to meet the immediate necessity would ' be thus raised. This, was ' pre» suming that the contribution was confined to that turn. — which of course it would not. lie was confident there were at least fifty gentlemen in the District who would willingly subscribe one.gninea, instead of five shillings, and the difference would give ■_ them a respectable sum in hand after paying off tlieir pr»ient liabity. They had all seen the effeees of combined and general action with regard to the Public Library, and how the small but nuintrous donations swelled into a large amount. Mr. McNeii. said he had much pleasure , in endorsing the sti*p3 proposed by. Mr. Dungan, but he would like*tp see an extension of the radius, and an opportunity given to the sett lers in the outlying districts to indulge their generosity. Air. Coleman thought the object for which they had assembled one of the gravest import ance, and it behqved every one to Uhd tlieir earnest aid to the. movement He quite coincided with, the proposedcourse. v .. r . Mr. Marsh did not for a moment, wisji to.object to the proposition, but he thought something more should be done, L and the subscription list could 'be supplamend in another way. He had been having- a kind of preliminary cuavass, and had beei} told by some that "thought they could not afford to contribute money they, would be quite: willing to giye a day's— or two or three— r, labor to the Cemetery. If the overdraft were raised by the list, a. great deal of thought forJthe future would be relieved, by the moans he proposed. Mr. MaJS-Eii would propose that when' the »u^3Cjup^j^ad_^«i^ogened a paid : thoroughly cimvass the town and thbsewards of the Highways Board lying outside the borough . He would th ere fore moye-^ "That a subscription list be taken through the district by some person pointed by the trustees, for the purpose of getting funds towards the improvement of the Cemetery." •' . • ■ : The resolution was seconded by MrKeeling, aqd carried. ; • Air. Amesbprt highly approved of the idea that various public bodies should supplement friie private subscriptions. He would theref ov« move— "That the Borough Council and the Road Board be requested to vote a sum to. . wards defraying the expense o.f -theimprove:ment about to bo ijndertaken by the- Trii^ tees of the Public Cemetery.." The motion was seconded by Mr. Joseph Leiry, and carried. . - ~ It wa9 suggested that at the Highways Board m#fc nex,t day a deputation should be appointed to wait upon it to urge it k aid as notified in the last resolution. The following gentlemen were then selected to wait upon the Baord, Messrs, McNeil, Linton, ieary, and Dungan. " Mr. Cqi^uan moved, and Mr. Dxtk&an seconded — ' ' ;" That a working committee be appointed to (;ake. step3 for holding a series of Working Bees, and for assisting the Trustees for the future management of th* <3emet«ry." Carried ," * - ?. „ Moye.d by. Mr. Ebeiin<J, seconded by Mr. Turner— " . ' "That Messrs. McNeil, Amesbury,M.owlem, Turner, Marah, Coleman, and Hayns be appointed a sub-committee of managemflnt of the Cemetery." Carried. - This concluded the fcusine.3B of the meeting,' and a subscription lkt having be«n passed round some £15 to £20 were subscribed in the room.