CREMATION ADVOCATED

Taranaki Daily News, 10 July 1929, Page 9

CREMATION ADVOCATED

-BURIAL MENACE TO HEALTH? COMPULSION SUGGESTED. ?< Reasons why the Victorian Ministry i should encourage the cremation of the dead were given to the Chief Secretary, Dr. Argyle, recently, by a deputation representing the Victorian Cremation Society. It was suggested that earth burials should be taxed in the interests of Dtiblic health so that their cost; might become prohibitive. ' The president of the society, Mr. C.H. Lucas, declared that the burial of the dead was undoubtedly dangerous to pub* lie health. A portion of the Glemnaggio weir at Stratford covered an old cemetery, and water from it entered the re-, servoir containing the drinking water of the residents of the district. :It was known that anthrax germs lived defin-, itely on the buried bodies of persona affected with the disease.' In those cases, at least, cremation should be made com-? ptilsory. Most of the cemeteries in Afeb bourne were becoming seriously overcrowded, and some of them were ip a state of disrepair. Crematoriums shouldbe established compulsorily in all new cemeteries. Cremation was a sanitary; necessity, and the Government, might;' tax burials to make the adoption of cremation more general. ' - ' ’’,, Dr. W. A. Morrison said that crema-5 tion reduced a body to ashes, and who-.-ther those ashes were preserved in' an urn or scattered they were absolutely harmless, but burial was always a-5 source of danger to health. ' • "a.; Dr. Argyle said that he understood that the deputation wanted the Ministry to encourage cremation, not to make it? compulsory. He wouldv obtain a report; on the subject from the Health mission. The Ministry was preparing a. Cemeteries Bill, and the question of es- . tablishing crematoriums would be. con-'V cidered seriously. The deputation should .' j know that any form of compulsion,-V either directly or indirectly, would b< ? unthinkable. Religious views had to b( treated with respect. Personally he sympathised with the views of the depu-;? tation. He could see no difference between the slow chemical process ol disintegration associated with burial ; and the rapid destruction of a body by i fire. He would have inquiries made into; < the position at Stratford without de-y. !ay. •