§ Mr. EDWARD WOODasked the Home Secretary whether consent has recently been refused to an application made originally in August last by the Normanton Burials Board for leave to have the whole of a piece of land, lately added to a burial ground known as the upper cemetery, consecrated; and, if so, what was the reason for such refusal, in view of the fact that there is already ample provision of unconsecrated ground belonging to the same board, and that there is at the present time considerably greater demand for burial space in consecrated than in unconsecrated ground?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe effect of the proposal, to which I felt obliged to refuse my consent, would have been the consecration of the whole of a burial ground which, when originally provided, had been divided, as required by law, into consecrated and unconsecrated parts. This, I am advised, is not authorised by the Burial Act of 1900, which now governs this matter, and I was bound, therefore, to inform the Burial Board that their proposal must be limited to a portion of the ground. They revised their proposal accordingly, and I approved it.