The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-04-02 00:00:00

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P

r Ir t

THE CEMETERY QUESTION AT
BRIERLEY HILL.

The forthcoming Brierley Hill Local Board
election will be of considerable importance. The
churchyard is now nearly full, and very soon will be
unavailable:: for purposes of burial, A public
cetne'e y will have to be provided for the district
by the Local Board, and land will have to be pur•
chased during the course of the present year. On
its purchase questions will arise as to consecration
and the erection of mortuary chapels. It is under
Marten's Act that the Local Board are proceeding
and under that Act a cemetery or portions of it
may either be consecrated or not consecrated. If
the majority of ihe Board decide to ask the Bishop
to consecrate, it rests with him to say whether he
will do so or not. If he does decide to consecrate
it then it is imperative on the Board to provide a
chapel for burials according to the rights of the
Church of England, and the Board may provide a
chapel for Nonconformists, but Ir.re it is purely and
simply a matter of grace and favour. The cost of
consecration, of course, would be a mere fleabite,
but there is the after-clap in the shape of com-
pulsory building of an additional chapel at the cost
of some hundreds of pounds, which would have to
come out of the pockets of the ratepayers at la-ge.
Not only would the Board be compelled to build an
extra chapel as a sequel to consecration but a chaplain
belonging to the Citurch of England would have to
appointed, at a salary to be approved by the Bishop,
and that salary would be payable oat of the rates,
and would be a perp-tual annual charge as long as
the cemetery lasts. There would therefore be three
distinct expm.ses to be defrayed by the public as a
w;tole on behalf of the Established sect—ronsecra-
ticn. a ,epa ate chapel, and a chaplain's salary,
Prac Licalty speaking, the Bishop's having to approve
the t.alary, it is equivalent to having to fix the
aino.int. Nonconformists would n t object to con-
secration as a religious servic but what they cls
sti 0 igly object to is being called upon to pay for
consecration and for its indispensable adjuncts—an
ad it o al chapel, end a Church of England chaplain.
Now, there is nothing in the Burial Act of 1880
which makes clergymen liable to penalties for
officiating at funerals in unconsecrated buildings.
A. l'etnetmy for Brierley Hil is a necessity arid
c tnnot be avoided, but the question to consider
is :—Sliall it be provided as eco iorn ic&ly as possible,
or shall there be unnecessary and unjust items of
expendi ure added ? Diguitaries cf the Church of
England have declared that in cent-Aeries provided
by public money consecration is uanecess try, and
have agreed that one chapel ta be used by Church-
men and Dissenters alike is quite sufficient. Tho
whole matter is causing considerable fe ling in
Frierley Hill, and the point ia the el.tction of tha
Local Board will be as to whether th re shall b
Liberal or a Tory majority. The Tor es, it. is said,
ace making quiet but vigorous prep irations to
secure the return of a sufficient nurn'er of their own
party to give a Church and Tory majority. Upon
the Board as at t resent, constitute 1 the Liberals
have a majority of two, favourable to op€itlflt any
cemetery that may be provided by a dedicatory
serv:ce alone, leaving it to the variou 3 denominations
to provide clergymen or minis'.ers at funerals. Six
Tory and six Liberal candidates have been nominated
and the struggle will be as to whether the Libe als
will be able to maintain the majority they hsve, or
whether there suall be such a substitution of Tor!es
as will give the latter the ut per hand when the
question of providing a cemetery has to be con-
sidered.

Under all the circumstances it certainly behoves
Liberal and Nonconformist ratepayers to do all that
in them lies with a view to get this impirtant
question of the provision of a public cemetery
settled, not on lines that recognise invidious distinct-
ions in favour of a particular class, but oa lines
which are fo• the benefit of the community at
large. —Wolverhampton Chro,6icle.
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