ST. GEORGE'S BONES GO BEGGING.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13906, 6 November 1919, Page 8

ST. GEORGE'S BONES GO BEGGING.

It has been suggested in Melbourne that the alleged bones of St. George unearthed by Australian engineers beneath the mosaic floor of a church in Palestine should be sent- to London, so that the historic remains of England's patron saint should rest for ever in some cool corner of Westminster Abbey.

Apparently the saint's bones will go-a-begging. Canon R. H. Charles, ;of Westminster Abbey, who speaks as a member of the chapter, scorns the proposal. '■' l do not care tuppence about his bones." he said emphatically to a newspaper representative. "Just- now lam mere, concerned with the remains of England, if the labor-situation does not alter, than tlio remains of any saint. Besides, there is only room for the remains e»f six more famous people in the Abbey, and even then they must be> cremated before they are interred. So what is the good of bringing his bones here to be burnt in some, crematorium ? ■ "You see those old houses behind that- Norman wa.ll there ?" he asked, walking into his garden behind his house in the Little Cloisters. "Well, they will have to come down some day, and I want, that space reserved for the interment of the remains of the famous living and the great men of the future. There are so many great, men nowadays, and*there will be 'so many in the years to come. that space for six seems inadequate.

"When we get -"this space", we may have room for the burnt, bones of St: George."