§ MR. G. OSBORNE MORGAN (Denbighshire, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to a report in the Cambrian News of 23rd January, of the action taken by the Rev. E. Hughes, Rector of Barmouth, on the occasion of the burial of Mrs. Ellen Parry, an aged widow lady, who had expressed a strong desire to be buried by the side of her late husband in the churchyard of Llanaher (of which the Rector is incumbent), under the provisions of "The Burials Act, 1880," from which it appears that, in consequence of a dispute between the Rector and the executors of the deceased as to the amount of the burial fee payable to him (involving the payment of a contested half-crown), the Rector, in the alleged exercise of his right of control over the churchyard, refused to allow the deceased to be buried by the side of her husband, and directed a grave to be dug for her in a remote part of the churchyard, where suicides and bodies washed up by the sea are usually buried, and
That it is understood that the Rector intends to further exercise his right by not allowing any inscription to be put over the grave of the deceased";whether he is aware that the action of the Rector in availing himself of his right over the churchyard in such a manner has given rise to grave dissatisfaction in the neighbourhood; and whether, if such action be warranted by the strict letter of the law, the Government will give facilities for the passing of a measure which will prevent its recurrence?
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGE (Carnarvon, &c.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the refusal of the Rector of Banmouth (Merioneth- 1282 shire) to grant burial of the remains of a lady parishioner in her husband's grave, and to his assigning for such burial a corner in the churchyard usually reserved for the interment of suicides and of bodies of unknown persons cast upon the shore; whether he is aware that a notice was given by the deceased lady's executors of their intention to avail themselves of the provisions of the Burials Act in favour of Nonconformists; and whether the Government are prepared to bring in a Bill to obviate the recurrence of such incidents?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI am informed by the Rector of Barmouth that the grave in question was not the property of the deceased's husband and she had no right of interment there, and it was not, in his opinion, convenient that the deceased lady should be buried in the same grave as her husband, in which there was no receptacle for a second coffin. He accordingly gave instructions for her burial in a place generally used for burying, and not in any sense reserved for suicides and cast-up bodies, but where some of the most respected inhabitants and visitors of the place lie interred. Notice was given, and the funeral conducted, in strict accordance with the Burials Act, 1880. I gather that the Rector took the course he did in the exercise of his discretion as freeholder of the churchyard. I have seen a leading article in the Cambrian News commenting on the case in a way not unfavourable to the Rector, and I am not aware whether there is grave dissatisfaction in the neighbourhood. Any friction that may have arisen was not, in my opinion, due to any defect in the law; and I am not prepared to suggest any measure by which such incidents could be prevented.
§ In reply to a further question by Mr. G. OSBORNE MORGAN,
§ MR. MATTHEWSsaid: In the answer I have given to the right hon. Gentleman I have quoted the very words of the Rector.