§ MR. OSBORNE MORGAN (Denbighshire)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware the Bishop of Wakefield has informed the Burial Board of Kirkheaton, Yorkshire, that, after consulting the Archbishop of York and other Bishops, he is prepared to dedicate their burial ground, as requested, by using the Consecration Service without the execution of a legal instrument, provided that the Home Office Order for Consecration is cancelled, that the rector is a consenting party, and that an agreement is come to as to the clerical fees; and, whether he will consent to cancel such order, or, if unable, on legal grounds, to do so, the Government will facilitate legislation which will permit the substitution for consecration of a dedication service, the principle of which the Archbishop of York and other Bishops have accepted?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (MR. MATTHEWS,) Birmingham, E.The answer to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. By the Burial Acts a portion of the ground is required to be con- 1845 secrated, but the Acts do not require that an order to consecrate should be made by the Home Office, and no such order has been made in this case. All I have done is to call the attention of the Board to the requirements of the Acts, which I have no power to modify by substituting dedication for consecration. I understand, moreover, that in this particular case the vendor of the site stipulated that a portion should be consecrated. The Government are not prepared without more consideration to propose or facilitate any alteration of the existing law.