MR. CARVELL WILLIAMSI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received from the parties concerned declarations concerning the statement that, on the burial of Robert Tomlinson in the churchyard at Shirland, near Alfreton, the rector objected to a Nonconformist burial at five o'clock in the afternoon, and required that it should be at three o'clock; and, whether such requirement was contrary to the provisions of the Burial Act of 1880?
§ * SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYYes, Sir, I have received statements to this effect from those in charge of the funeral and have been tunable to obtain any satisfactory explanation from the rector who simply denies their accuracy. It seems clear that under Section 3 of the Act objection cannot be made to a funeral taking place at five o'clock in the month of July except on some one of the grounds mentioned in the section; the section does not exclude a mutual arrangement between the parties, but in default of any such arrangement, or of a written intimation from the incumbent that the hour fixed is inconvenient, it is provided (by Section 4) that the burial shall take place at the time specified.