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The Cremation Society of England, the pioneers of cremation in this
country, have also found it advisable to modify their rules.
There is no disguising the fact that the religious objection is very slow in
dying out, in spite of the decline of materialistic interpretation of Christian
teaching. Again, the general public are not aware that religious rites are
applicable to the burning as well as to the burial of bodies, and it is well to make
more widely known sec. 11 of the Cremation Act, 1902, which provides that in
the case of refusal by "the incumbent of any ecclesiastical parish to perform a
" funeral service before, at, or after cremation, any Clerk in Holy Orders of
" the Established Church, not being prohibited under ecclesiastical censure,
" may, with the permission of the Bishop, and at the request of the executor
" of the deceased person, or of the burial authority or other person having
" charge of the cremation or interment of the cremated remains, perform such
" service within such ground." It will be seen, therefore, that cremation
does not in any way interfere with the religious routine of Christian burial.
In reply to a circular letter sent to the Superintendents of the several
Crematoria in the United Kingdom inviting their views with regard to the
progress cf cremation, the following observations may be quoted:—
The Honorary Secretary of the Scottish Burial Reform and Cremation
Society, Glasgow, referring to the diminishing number of cremations at some
places, states that :—
" In Scotland we have been at a loss to understand this, and some of
" our Directors are inclined to attribute it to the diminished death-rate ;
" others attribute it to the fact that we have not for some time been
" holding public meetings or doing anything to advertise the movement,
" having rested content with providing the apparatus for those who
" desire to avail themselves of it."
He also notes that the prejudice against cremation is steadily diminishing,
but that many people who are advocates of it do not take means to ensure
their wishes being carried out after their death—in many cases the reason being
that they do not wish to wound the feelings of relatives who hold different
views.
The Honorary Secretary of the Darlington Cremation Society also suggests
that a declining death rate may have influenced a falling-ofF in the number of
cremations.
The Secretary of the Cremation Society of England, referring to a classified
list of the occupations of 483 persons cremated at Golders Green and Woking
Crematoria during 1908, remarks :—
" It will be seen that the poorer classes are entirely unrepresented in
" the foregoing figures, and until the advantages of cremation are
" recognised by this section of the population (in which the greatest