THE CEMETERY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 935, 31 January 1890, Page 28

THE CEMETERY.

The Melrose Borough Council having decided to refuse to allow a cemetery to be established within

its district, the present position of that very important subject is “as you were.” It is not to be regretted, we think, that the Island Bay site has been disposed of in this way. It was clearly shown, when the question was under consideration by the City Council, that good sites could be obtained elsewhere, access to which was not any more difficult or expensive than it would be to Island Bay. Moreover, to establish such a place at Island Bay would be to prevent, or at any rate retard, the settlement of a locality very suitable for residences. But the arguments to be put forward in favour of and against a cemetery on the site selected are of no importance now. It is absolutely decided, we take it, that the city cinnot bury its dead at Island Bay. The question the City Council .have to face now, and that immediately, is where the cemetery is to be located. To go on interring people in the present ground, crowded as it is, and standing in the very heart of the city, is a sin against cleanliness and an outrage against the health of the people. Investigations made a month or two ago showed that there is no lack of sites within easy distance of the city, all of which, we presume, are still available. The sooner Councillors set themselves to work to decide upon one of these sites, apart from local differences, and for the sake of the health of the community—which, after all, is the Council’s first and greatest charge—the better. Whatever were done t’ vi ere best done quickly.