MR. NEVILLE-GRENVILLEasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the frequent burials within Westminster Abbey are attended with risk either to the fabric or to the health of the worshippers therein; and, whether the Government will consider the propriety of recommending Parliament to add a cloister or campo santo to the Abbey Church for the future interment of the illustrious dead?
MR. ASSHETON CROSS,in reply, said, he had communicated with the authorities of the Abbey and with other persons, and he gathered that burials in Westminster Abbey were not quite as frequent as the Question would lead the House to suppose. He was told that the average for the last 22 years had never exceeded four a-year; that every possible precautions were taken, under the superintendence of the architect, to prevent the slightest danger to the fabric, and also to prevent any injury to the health of any person, and it was not believed that there was the slightest danger from any burial that took place in the Abbey. With regard to the second Question, the matter had been brought under the notice of the Government, who had made inquiries about it. There was one formidable obstacle at the present moment to the carrying out of such a project—namely, the enormous expense which it would involve.