CREMATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20283, 16 December 1927, Page 10

CREMATION.

The fact that the first' funeral at the crematorium in the Anderson’s Bay Cemetery was conducted yesterday is a matter of distinct public interest. The principle of cremation as the method of the disposal of human remains has not been generally accepted. It is definitely opposed by one important branch of the Christian Church for reasons to which it is necessary to oSer the fullest respect. The view that it is unscriptural is not, however, entertained by most of the religious denominations. Upon other grounds there is a very great deal to recommend it. Chief among its advantages is that it is demonstrably more hygienic than earth burial. An objection of tremendous force that may be urged against the system of earth burial is that it constitutes, especially in crowded areas, a certain menace to public health. The danger of the pollution of the soil through the interment in it oi human remains may be liable to exaggeration, but of the reality of it there can be no question, .nor can it be doubted that the contamination of the earth is more or less permanent. That is the main consideration that makes cremation preferable to earth burial, but there are other considerations that are not of small moment, among these being the fact that cremation affords a safeguard against the risk that persons who are still alive may be treated as dead. Nor is it possible to ignore the demand which earth burial makes for the use of laud for cemetery purposes. In the brief histoiy of our city two cemeteries have been practically filled, and the number of graves in a third one is increasing to a remarkable extent. The municipal authorities of 50 years hence may be confronted with a problem in respect of cemetery accommodation, which it may be necessary for them to solve by the provision of areas distant from the city, if they do not have recourse to the expedient of removing further afield the already interred corpses. While, however, a sanitary method of disposing of the dead is available in cremation, it may well be asked whether suburban land is not too valuable to be put to an unhygienic use as a cemetery.