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38
CREMATION.
It will be interesting to note if the policy of reducing the charge made by
the Corporation for cremation at Ilford, as advocated in my'Annual Report for
1907, will result in popularising in the eastern parts of the Metropolis this
method of disposing of the dead.
In spite of the argument so constantly advanced that cremation should
become general on the ground that it is the most hygienic method of
destroying a mass of corruptive material, and therefore the most rational,
there is still a great deal of prejudice to be overcome from the working classes
before it becomes general.
The appeal to their pockets may have some effect in the desired direction.
The total number of cremations in the United Kingdom is steadily
increasing, and amounted to 795 during the past year.
The establishments of the Cremation Society at Woking and Golders Green
maintain their popularity, but a classification of the position in life of those
cremated at these places, sent by the Secretary of the Society, shows that the
support of the movement is chiefly on the part of the wealthier and more
intellectual part of the community.
No new Crematoria were established in the United Kingdom during the
year, but the local authorities at Nottingham, Bournemouth and Bristol are
said to be considering the question.*
The Cardiff City Council is statedf to have recently discussed the question
of establishing a crematorium, when it was decided to take no action in the
matter, the opponents of the scheme stating that there is a deep-seated religious
objection to cremation.
It would be a good thing if burial clubs and benefit societies were asked to
advocate cremation amongst their members, and I cannot help thinking that
both the Church and the medical profession might take a more active
interest than they do in forwarding the movement.
The majority of crematoria have been established by municipal authorities
and quasi philanthropic societies, who advocate cremation, and therefore the
charges should be better adjusted so as to suit the pockets of everyone. As a
rule the charges are too high to attract the bulk of the people, and it is for
this reason that the Corporation have reduced the inclusive charge for cremation
from 41. 4s. to 3/. 3s. This fee includes all attendance after the body is placed
on the catafalque table by the undertakers, the services of a clergyman if
required, a plain urn for the remains, storage of the latter for three months.
Failing the removal of the remains by the relatives within three months,
they will be decently interred in land adjoining the Crematorium reserved for
this purpose.
* " Transactions of the Cremation Society of England for 1908." f " Lancet" 13/2/09.