THE VESSEL AND HER GRUESOME FREIGHT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7544, 29 October 1902, Page 3

THE VESSEL AND HER GRUESOME FREIGHT.

DISINTERMEXT OF THE BODIES. HOW THE WORK WAS CARRIED OUT. The Veaitnor, which was chartered bo convey Chinese bodies from this colony to China, was built in 1901. Her gross tonnag© was 3961, and net tonnage 2581. Her owners are the "Ventnor Steamship Company, and she was registered in. Glasgow. She was 344 ft 7in in length, 49ft Bin in breadth, and 18ft in depth. She did not come to Lyttelton in connection witih- the trip on which* she was engaged at the time of the disaster, and ib is unlikely that she was ever in the harbour h^a'e. The agreement was that about 480 bodies should be 'taken from New Zealand to China. The removal of the bodies and ! the. preparations for shipment were carried : out by a party of Chinese under the direction of Mr Mcc Chang, Who had the contract for the. work throughout New Zea--1 land. Two other persons (an inspector and a clerk) also accompanied 1 the contractor's party to different places in New Zealand, where th& work of dis interment was,, carried out. The letting of the contract and thegeneral arrangements were in the hands c-f tilie Chinese firm at Dunedin, which is carrying on the business of the late -Mr Sew Hay, a well-known merchant of the- southern city. The expenses, which were necessarily heavy, were contributed to by tie Chinese residents throughout the colony. Each Celestial, on making a. donation, according to his means, or his inclination, received a pass, which stands ihim. in good stead in the event of his return 'to China, as the non-possession of such, a pass renders lnim liable to a penalty of £20 before he can set foot in his fatherland. A payment of an. amount equal to about 20s in English money, it was also stipulated, should be exacted' from the relatives of each deceased person before the coffin, was 'handed over to them on. its arrival in China.. The work has been continued ove>r twelve months. The contractors ,were engaged in upwards of forty cemeteries, including those at Auckland, Wellington, Palmerston North, Greymouth, Christchurch and other towns. From seven cemeteries on the West Coast of the South Island, some 190 bodies were lifted', including 120 from the Greymouth Cemet&ry. The whole of till© 190 coffins were stored in a shed erected for the purpose in the Greymouth Cemetery. In the Otago and Southland districts toll was 1 levied on no fewer than twenty-four graveyards, the result being an accumulation of upwards of 200 conlns, which were stored near Dunedin in a shed similar to that at Greymouth. ! Christclmreh 'has contributed about five bodies, and Wellington thirty. Afterwards, when the gruesome work had been completed, the bodies were collected at Wellington for despatch to China. Some exception was taken to the disi interment of the bodies, and the Westport Borough Council communicated with the Government, stating that the Council had 1 protested several times against the work, but the Colonial Secretary overruled the objection. A perfect system was followed in the exhumation of the bodies. On the graves being opened, the bodies were removed from the coffins i and those on which any portion of tho flesh remained, on being washed, wei'e wrapped in linen and placed in a zinc coffin, which was made on the. ground by the tinsmith, and which, before being used, was immersed in water to make certain that it was perfectly airtight. These coffins, after receiving the bodies, were at once soldered down with great care, and then placed in a wooden coffin, made of l^in kauri timber. When tho remains consisted of bones alone, they were washed, dried over a fire> in a. riddle, then tied together in a bundle, wrapped in a cloth, and placed 1 in a wooden coffin only. Each bone, before "being tints disposed 1 of, was carefully labelled L and tho j name of the deceased was in all casts at- i taehed to the 'body or bundle of bones, as wesl as to the coffins. The coffins were then ready for removal or storage, in readiness for shipment when the appointed time arrived. The old coffins were replaced in the graves, which were filled' in. The various members of the party went about their peculiar work in the most business-like and matter-of-fact way. Each man had particular duties assigned to him, and thus several opened and refilled the" graves. One got the wooden coffins ready, i and did the odd jobs xe^uired^ and an- \

other's special duty was to wash and dry the bones. Another (who was known as the clerk) wroUi tho. labels and kept a record of all bodies, bones, and coflins; another affixed the labels to tho coilins and clothes ; the tinsmith made and soldered down the zinc coffins, and yot another man exercised a general oversight, over the whole of the operations. An ample supply of strong disinfectants was always kept on hand and' freely used. One matter which was apt to cause a somewhat disquieting reflection waa the fact that in the top <rf each zinc coffin a umall screw was placed, to serve as a safety-valve through which the gases might escape should they be generated by a. decomposing body in quantity sufficient to threaten to burst the coffin. • However, the chances of this screw being required to fulfil its function were very remote, as in most cases in which the flesh, or portion of it, remained on the 'body, it was quit© dry, and beyond the period at which gas is generated. The soil in certain localities appears to possess chemical properties which, have a wonderfully preservative effect on the bodies. In one cemetery in Southland a body had been buried nineteen years, and was in a perfect state of preservation, reseinlbling a mummy when exhumed. At Greymouth a body was in a similar condition after sixteen years' interment. On the otter hand, nothing but bones was found in a coffin which had been interred only two or three years.