MR. CARVELL WILLIAMS) (Notts, MansfieldI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that on recently receiving notice of the intended interment under the Burial Act of 1880 in the church cemetery of Prestatyn, Flintshire, of Mrs. Jones, who had resided in apartments in the parish for 18 months, the vicar refused to allow the burial to take place, on the ground that the vestry had in 1879 resolved that none but ratepayers and old inhabitants should be interred in the cemetery; whether interment in the parochial graveyard cannot be claimed by law for any person dying in the parish; and whether any steps will be taken to prevent a repetition of such an occurrence?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENTI have made inquiry of the vicar about this case, and am informed by him that the resolution of the vestry, referred to in the Question, was directed against the interment of persons other than parishioners, and that he did not consider Mrs. Jones to be a parishioner. The vicar's refusal was given, as I understand, before any notice under the Act of 1880 was served upon him. Neither the vestry nor the vicar have, of course, any power to limit the right of burial given by the common law, but whether that right existed in the present case is a question which it is for the law courts and not for me to decide. It is stated that a meeting of the vestry has been called for 386 to-day to consider the question of rescinding their resolution.