CREMATIONS IN SYDNEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20075, 12 October 1928, Page 18

CREMATIONS IN SYDNEY.

INCREASING IN FAVOUR. AVERAGE OVER FIFTY A MONTH. [from our own cod respondent. ] SYDNEY. Oct. 4. j Although there is, and probably always will he, a prejudice against it among sections of the community, cremation is be- ! coming more popular, if that term is permissible, in Sydney. Cremations now are averaging more than 50 a month. In fact, tho question of extending tho crematorium is seriously being considered. The disposal of the ashes of those cremated takes some extraordinary forms, although, in tho great majority of cases, they are retained in urns by relatives, or are scattered over the rose gardens surrounding the crematorium. Tho case is. on record of one young and attractive-looking Sydney woman who, although she knew she had not long to live because of an incurable illness, was not without a grim sense of humour in tho face of death. She put in writing a request that, when she died and was cremated, her ashes should bo compounded with cement and made into a little receptable for her husband's cigarettes. She explained that he was an untidy man, and had a habit of throwing about everywhere tho butts of his cigarettes. Twelve months later the woman died and her request was fulfilled. A man with big country interests, not long beforo his death and cremation, asked that his asl.es should be conveyed to his property, placed on top of the hood of his car, and scattered to the four winds of heaven, lie jocularly explained thai as the driver of his car invariably drove "like the very devil," his ashes would thus bo quickly scattered. Only last month the ashes of a woman who had been very fond of the sea were sunk in Sydney Harbour. In tho office of the Cremation Society is a neat cut-glass jar, almost full of white flaky ashes. They arc the mortal remains .of tho wife of a Sydney tradesman, and have been left, temporarily, in tho society's safekeeping. i Not a few people, especially those who have read Edgar Allen Poe, view with dread the possibility of premature burial. That it is possible, even in tho present year of grace and of modern medical developments, is one of the many arguments advanced by those who favour cremation. The fundamental argument, of course, is that relating to hygieno. Another argument is that it is cheaper to bo cremated than to bo buried. Figures prove this to ho a fact, and may, incidentally, bo one of the reasons for nearly a thousand people having already joined tho Cremation Society. Each one of them is entitled to cremation and all tho last rites, for ahont 15 guineas.