HC Deb 25 June 1874 vol 220 cc419-20
MR. CARTER

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is the fact that at his instance Dr. Holland has been sent to Wellingborough to conduct an inquiry into an alleged act of sacrilege on the part of the Burial Board of Wellingborough, such act of sacrilege being the planting with potatoes, for the purpose of cleaning the land, of a portion of the ground lately set apart for the purposes of a cemetery; and, if so, whether Dr. Holland's Report has been received and can be laid upon the Table of the House?

MR. ASSHETON CROSS

Some time ago a formal statement was made to me as to certain matters which had taken place with regard to this burial ground, and I thought the proper course to take would be to make inquiries as to what were the facts of the case. So far as I could learn, no portion of the burial ground which is being used at all for purposes of burial has been planted with these potatoes, and the Inspector whose duty it was to look after the matter is strongly of opinion that the matter, if anything, was rather one of a nice question of Ecclesiastical Law than one for the interference of the Secretary of State. It would, therefore, be quite useless to lay the Report of the Inspector upon the Table.