THE EARL OF ONSLOWsaid, he wished to call attention to the erection of a public crematorium at Woking, and the cremation of a body there on the 26th of March last, and to inquire, Whether Her Majesty's Government would use whatever powers they had in the matter for the discouragement of the practice?
THE EARL OF ONSLOWsaid, he understood the Home Secretary to state in "another place" that Her Majesty's Government had power to discourage the practice.
THE EARL OF DALHOUSIEsaid, he was not aware of the existence of such power. Some time ago the Government was asked to legislate, with a view of surrounding the practice by certain safeguards. The reply of the Secretary of State was that the people of this country were not in the least inclined to adopt cremation as an ordinary mode of disposing of the dead. He would, however, endeavour to ascertain what the views of the Home Secretary were upon the subject, so that he might be able to give the noble Earl a more satisfactory answer if he desired it.