New Burying Ground._ A report from the Burying Ground Committee was read, relative to the question of
common graves. The report, after alluding to the necessity which existed for such an arrangement during the time
of cholera, and when the place of interment was limited to the Old Burying Ground, gave is as an opinion, that, as
the continuance of the practice, even to a limited extent, was calculated to injure the feelings of relatives, it should
be instantly discontinued.
"The committee, at the same time, considered that from the extent of the population and other causes, the whole
space allotted for the interment of the poor, appropriating one grave to a single coffin, in the New Burying Ground,
would be filled up in twelve months, resolved to recommend to the Council, as patrons of the Hospital, to permit
three coffins to be interred in one grave,_ the grave to be dug to the depth of not less than eight feet ; so that five
feet of earth will cover the highest coffin,_ the grave to be filled up immediately after every interment, and the earth
on top to be properly finished and levelled only after the third interment." The Committee, at the same time,
recommended to the Council to reserve power to resort to the use of common graves when an emergency arises ;
and that the Sub-Committee be invested with the necessary power,_"it being understood that the Sub-Committee
shall immediately report the occurrence to the Committee or the Council." |