§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR (Donegal, E.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether, in 1874 or thereabouts, the then Home Secretary sanctioned the user of a piece of land in the parish of Sutton, Surrey, now vested in the Charity Commissioners, for the purpose of a cemetery; whether, so far, the land has not been utilised for the purpose; whether the land is at a considerable elevation, and, according to the evidence of scientific experts, immediately overlying the sources of supply of the Sutton Waterworks Company; whether, since the above-mentioned sanction, there have been built on each side of the site large (South Metropolitan District) schools, drawing their water from wells on the premises; whether, as the result of an inquiry held before Dr. Hoffman in March last, the Home Office refused to sanction the user of a site adjacent to the former on the ground of danger to the water supply of the whole district; and, whether the Home Office, having once sanctioned (12 years ago) the use of the first-mentioned site, find themselves now, in spite of the altered circumstances of the locality, and in spite of the report of their own officer in the case of the adjacent site, unable to interfere to prevent the use for burials, as now threatened, of the original ground?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)I have no power by Statute to revoke an approval of a burial site where the circumstances remain the same. In this case, however, I find that the site sanctioned was not at the time the property of the parish for general parochial purposes, but was subject to an express trust for the repair of highways; and the Charity Commissioners have informed the Burial 962 Board that any dealing with the land which would conflict with the trust to which it is subject would be restrained by a Court of Equity. Under these circumstances, I trust that no interference on my part will be required in order to prevent burials in this ground.