A ROCK CEMETERY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22068, 26 September 1933, Page 10

A ROCK CEMETERY

TO THE EDITOR. g Xß| — a new cemetery will be required for this city in the near future, as very little available space is now left in the old cemeteries. There is no need tor a new site within, or even very close to, the city area. In these da}> of the motor car and flying machine a few miles one

way or the other do not make much difference. Cremation is not our only alternative if we do not like earth burial. I would like to* suggest that a hard rock surface facing east, and near the sea, be looked for. If that can be found a large area —say, 100 acres, should be secured. If the rock were stripped and cut to an even surface, laid out in streets and blocks, and the sepulchres built in solid concrete, head to the street, and feet to feet, all that would be required on the occasion of a burial would be to slide the coffin back into the sepulchre, and build up the door in thick and solid concrete, in which name plate or tablet would be inserted. Tombstones and fences would be eliminated, and the upkeep reduced to a minimum. The height of the structure need not exceed four or five feet, and the stripping and building of the structure could be proceeded with just when and as required. The only record of the resurrection of Jeeus Christ is that He arose from a rock-hewn tomb in the body in which He was known to His disciples before He died. With that example in front of ue it is not likely that cremation will be the universal mode of dealing with the dead for a long time yet, and a better system than earth burial is long overdue.—l am, etc., W. M. C. September 25.