CEMETERY HORRORS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15201, 15 January 1913, Page 7

CEMETERY HORRORS.

OLD COFFINS AND BONES IN ■: ' HEAPS.

DUG UP TO MAKE ROOM.

dismissed' GRAVED disCLOSURES.

By T«!offCTph.-Press Association. -Copyright Hobaiit, January 14. , 'A b *,yot.tikg state of affairs has been re- ' «aled in connection with the Queensfcorom:;h cemetery. A gravcdigger who 'was dismissed has made, a statement to the Health Department and the press, in ' which he alleges tha* it has been the prac- ; tice to remove coffins from the graves in ■'■ order to permit of fresh burials. ','''' There was no room, he said, to replace the disinterred shells' nor their gruesome contents, the result being that they were piled on one another on rubbish heaps, and in some instances burned. On one occasion, in trying to find room in a grave 1 for another coffin, his pick pierced the lid ;\ of the shell already in it and embedded itself in the skull, which was dragged from ," the casket. ; Dr. Sprott, in reporting to the BoaTd of Health, says he has verified many of the qravedigger's statements. mor<i particularly re yarding the inability to replace coffins after the fresh burials. He had no hesitation, he said, in saying that the method of disposing of the dead filled him with ' horror and amazement. It constituted a ■ jeal danger to the public health.