PUBLIC

HEALTH ACT,

1848.

Power to pro

vide premises

tion of the

dead pre

viously to interment.

But if it appear that the water has not been so fouled, then such expenses, and all damages occasioned by the examination, shall be paid by the said local board out of the general district rates levied under this Act, and be recoverable from them in the summary manner herein-after provided.

81.

LXXXI. And for the purpose of preventing

for the recep- the manifold evils occasioned by the retention of the dead in the dwellings of the poor, be it enacted, that the local board of health may, if they shall think fit, provide, fit up, and make bye-laws with respect to the management and charges for the use of rooms or premises in which corpses may be received and decently and carefully kept previously to interment;

Burial

grounds. &c.

health may be

And the said local board may, upon proper application, and subject to such regulations and at such rates and charges as shall be prescribed by any such bye-laws, make all necessary arrangements for the decent and economical interment of any corpse which may have been received into any rooms or premises so provided in pursuance of this enactment.

82.

LXXXII. And be it enacted, that if upon dangerous to the representation of the local board of health, prohibited. —and after inquiry and report by a superintending inspector, notified to the lord bishop of the diocese,and made, notified, and published in manner herein-before directed

c. 63.

VICT.

with respect to the inquiry and report of super- 11 & 12 Vier. intending inspectors previously to the constitution of a district under this Act, and after inquiry by such other ways and means as the general board of health may think fit to direct, the said general board shall certify (such certificate to be published in the London Gazette, and in some one or more of the public newspapers usually circulated within the district), that any burial ground (g) situate within

(g) "Sufficient means of interment" intend, I conclude, a public burial ground, and not sufficient available land for the construction of one. Although no express power is given, yet by sections 81, 82, 83, 84, local boards may, I take it, provide burial grounds. This was the opinion of the General Board in a case submitted to them (March 8, 1851); the Board remarked, "although there is no power expressly given to a local board to purchase land for providing a cemetery, the Board consider such a power is impliedly given in the provision, that no burial ground is to be formed within any district without the consent of the General Board. It follows from this that, by consent of the General Board, such a burial ground may be formed, and the General Board will give their consent (after proper inquiry) to a local board for the formation of such a ground." They added, that there appears no objection to the exchanging an unused portion of land provided for burial purposes, with the consent of the bishop, for other land to be appropriated to the same purpose.

In choosing the site of a burial ground, the local board will have to consider several things intimately connected with the sanitary conditions of its district. The ground preferred should be at a reasonable distance from all dwelling houses. It should be in an airy situation, so that the breezes may freely blow over it, and thus remove unwholesome emanations. It should have a gravelly, dry soil, and be capable in need of being deeply and permanently drained.

PUBLIC

HEALTH ACT, any district to which this Act is applied is in 1848. such a state as to be dangerous to the health of persons living in the neighbourhood thereof,

Or that any church or other place of public worship within any such district is dangerous to the health of persons frequenting the same, by reason of the surcharged state of the vaults or graves within the walls of or underneath the same,- -and that sufficient means of interment exist within a convenient distance from such burial ground, church, or place of public worship, it shall not be lawful, after a time

It should be so extensive as that it would be needless to disturb a grave for twenty or thirty years. It should, when in use, have its graves covered with herbage; and if these sacred spots are placed very close to growing shrubs and other moderate-sized plants, so much the better will it be for the living. Growing plants, be it remembered, absorb and assimilate those very gases which diffuse disease and destruction to animals. The want of the aid of plants is discernible by even the smell in many an urban graveyard. It is true, as was well remarked by the General Board of Health in their valuable report on extramural sepulture, p. 11, that "it does not necessarily follow that offensive smells are injurious to health; and it is certain that the most deadly atmospheric poisons may be present in great intensity where no indication of their presence is given by the smell. But on the other hand, the sense of smell has been justly.described as a sentinel placed at the portals of life to warn us of the presence or approach of what is injurious to life; and beneficent nature, in order to put us upon our guard against the noxious matters arising from the decay of organic substances, has made them disgusting to us." (See also the judgment of Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce in Walter v. Selfe, 20 L. J. R. p. 433. See ante, p. 102.)

c. 63.

to be named in such certificate, to bury or 11 & 12 VICT. permit or suffer to be buried any further corpses or coffins in, within, or under the ground, church, or place of worship to which the certificate relates, except in so far as may be allowed by such certificate;

And whosoever, after notice of such certificate, buries, or causes, permits, or suffers to be buried, any corpse or coffin contrary to this enactment, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty of twenty pounds.

83.

ments within

burial

LXXXIII. And be it enacted, that no vault As to interor grave shall be constructed or made within churches or the walls of or underneath any church or other grounds place of public worship built in any district or formed. after the passing of this Act,

And no burial ground shall be made or formed within any district after the passing of this Act, without the consent of the general board of health first had and obtained,

Unless the same be made or formed upon land purchased or authorised by parliament to be appropriated for the purpose of being used as a burial ground before the passing of this Act;

And whosoever shall bury, or cause, permit, or suffer to be buried, any corpse or coffin in any vault, grave, or burial ground constructed, made, or formed contrary to this enactment, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds, which may

newly erected

PUBLIC

HEALTH ACT, 1848.

Power to

local boards to purchase lands, &c. under 8 & 9 Vict. c. 18.

Contracts by local board.

be recovered by any person, with full costs of suit, in an action of debt.

84.

LXXXIV. And be it enacted, that the local board of health, by agreement, may purchase, or take upon lease, sell, or exchange, any lands or premises for the purposes of this Act;

And the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, except the parts and enactments of that Act with respect to the purchase and taking of lands otherwise than by agreement, and with respect to the recovery of forfeitures, penalties, and costs, and with respect to lands acquired by the promoters of the undertaking, but which shall not be wanted for the purposes thereof, -shall, in so far as the same is consistent with this Act, be incorporated with this Act;

And for the purposes of this Act the expression" the promoters of the undertaking," wherever used in the said Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, shall mean the local board of health mentioned in this Act; and all lands and premises which shall be purchased, hired, or taken on lease by the local board of health of any noncorporate district shall be conveyed, demised, and assured to such local board and their successors, in trust for the purposes of this Act, and shall be accepted, taken, and held by them as a body corporate.

85.

LXXXV. And be it enacted, that the local board of health may enter into all such con