§ SIR FREDERICK MILNERI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his intention has been called to a statement by Dr. W. T. Greene, of Peckham Rye, at the Church House, in which he asserted that it was the custom to bury in St. Giles's, Camberwell, Cemetery, from 30 to 40 bodies of poor persons in one grave, which was sometimes kept open from 20 to 40 days after some bodies had been buried therein; And whether such a practice is lawful; and, if not, what steps he proposes to take in the matter?
§ MR. ASQUITHMy attention has been called to the statement in question; inquiry has been made, and it appears that, owing to a great pressure of interments in consequence of the severe epidemic of influenza at the beginning of the year, the facts are as alleged; but the Burial Board have stengthened their staff, and made fresh regulations greatly to reduce the number interred in one grave, And to close each common grave on the seventh day. I have also under consideration the question of still further amending the regulations in force in the cemetery.