§ MR. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, S.W.)asked the Secretary for State for the Home Department whether the Board of Health reported, so long ago as 1851, that Brompton Cemetery did not possess the conditions essential to a burial ground, and recommended that it should be closed; whether the Government then purchased this cemetery, and have since carried on the business of the cemetery; whether representations have reached him that the soil of the cemetery has become perfectly surcharged with human corruption, and is a serious danger to the neighbourhood; and, whether he will order that the cemetery shall be closed?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI am informed that the earliest report on this cemetery is in February, 1853, when Dr. Sutherland reported that the Brompton Cemetery could afford burial space for upwards of 3,000 bodies per annum for an indefinite period without injury to the public health. The Treasury purchased the cemetery under the 46 Section of the 15 and 16 Vict., c. 85. The only com- 1860 plaint made to the Home Office was on May 16, 1876, by a Mr. Wright, who was of opinion that the cemetery was injurious to the health of a thickly populated district. Mr. Rolland, the Burial Inspector, reported on this complaint that no interference was necessary. The present Burial Inspector reports to me that there is no ground whatever for saying that the soil of the cemetery has become surcharged with human corruption, or that it is any danger to the neighbourhood. There is still available space for common interments for at least three years, and in private and select ground for an indefinite period. There is no reason for closing the cemetery, and the present regulations are quite sufficient to prevent injury to the public health.