CHEAPER FUNERALS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14685, 19 November 1909, Page 8

CHEAPER FUNERALS.

CREMATION AND ECONOMY.

AN UNDERTAKER'S VIEWS,

cFaou Oce Own CosaEsroNDOT.) WiIILLINUTOiSi, iVovember 18. ' Seeking somo ideas on' cremation, a Dominion reporter approached a city undertaker in order to discuss what seemed to be a matter of doubt—viz., which is the cheaper method of disposing of the dead: by cremation or burial '{ The undertaker held the view— ft strong one—that cremation was not only going to be the cheaper, but would be the most popular ineuiod of disintegration in the not far distant future. He said that one of the chief items of expense in connection with a funeral was the cost of the polished casket (with its silver-plated fittings), often made of expensive woods, which have to bo specially imported for the purpose. This item would be almost knocked out in the case of cremation. It was not at all likely that they' would burn what must be considered a fine piece of cabinet work, as most of the good polished caskete are; that would be useless waste. What will be done, and has been dono already, is to confine the body in a white pine coflin, which will lit into certain standard caskets of approved design and workmanship. The doors 'leading to the furnace will open and the casket will disappear from view. Inside, however, the cheaper coffin containing the body will be removed from the more ornamental ea&ket, and despatched into the incinerating chamber, but the undertaker will claim his casket, which has really only been hired, and will be fumigated in view of future contingencies. There is no disrespect to the dead or anyone's feelings, said the undertaker. "The caskets have hitherto been buried with the body merely as a concession to those looking on. After a funeral most people interested in the deceased wait to se« the earth thrown on the coffin, and in many cases until the grave is tilled up, and their feelings must be respected; but with cremation the last they see of the casket is equivalent to the last they see before the earth covers it, and if the body is treated with decency, and economies are effected where they are badly needed in some cases, it. will be a good thing to save the I caSket from the flames. The saving in"! such cases would be at least £10."

The undertaker said that' he had approached the town clerk with another idea, which he thought would be welcomed by many—in particular thcec whobo means are limited. Assuming that in the ordinary course a body is cremated, the relatives as a rule luncy that it is incumbent on them to purchase a plot of ground in the cemetery, where the ashes can be interred and a memorial stone erected. The rapidity with which the great extent of the Kaiori Cemetery is filling up appals those who only make infrequent- visits to burial ground, and already there has been a hint of the city acquiring more land. It is pointed out that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people in Wellington have relatives buried in the old Sydney street Cemetery (now dosed as far as new graves are concerned), and he believed that in many cases people of advanced ideas will have deceased members of their family cremated and the ashes interred in the plots of ground they or their forbears have long ago paid lor. Thus, if cremation did become a" general practice in the disposal of our dead, a great deal less land would be needed for cemetery purposes. At present there is nothing to prevent a person from buryiii" the members of his' family in the family grave in the old cemetery.' There would be far less objection to anyone deposilin" a tiny casket (Gin by lOin) in an olit grave. To loo!; still further ahead, it maybe that tho graves of the future will be vaults, in which may be deposited the remains of a family practically for all time. : '