§ MR. J. ROWLANDS(for Mr. H. J. WILSON) (York, W.R., Holmfirth)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he has been asked to sanction the appropriation by the Vicar of Great Harwood, Lancashire, of a part of the glebe for an addition to the churchyard, such land being at a great distance from the churchyard; whether he is aware that the Sanitary Authority of the district have provided, under Marten's Act, a cemetery adjoining the glebe land proposed to be so appropriated, and divided it into Episcopal, Nonconformist, and Roman Catholic portions, with a separate chapel for each; whether the fact that the Sanitary Authority, in the exercise of the discretion vested in them by the Act, have not obtained the consecration of the Episcopal portion of the cemetery, justifies the appropriation of glebe land for providing a second cemetery, to the detriment of that already provided by the inhabitants; and, whether, before giving the required sanction, he will 559 cause an inquiry into the facts of the case to be made?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS), (Birmingham, E.)in reply, said, that his approval had been asked for the establishment of a burial-ground at Great Harwood, and, in accordance with the usual practice, the Burial Inspector had reported to him with regard to the suitableness of the proposed site. He was informed that a cemetery had been established under the provisions of Marten's Act. The appropriation of glebe land was lawful under certain conditions required by law to be observed. The appropriation did not require his sanction. It was for the Bishop, incumbent, and patron to decide whether the absence of a consecrated burial-ground for the interment of members of the Church of England in Great Harwood justified such appropriation.