To the Editor of the "Nortu-Cama Dairy News."
Sir,—Will you kindly decide an argument which arose in a recent conversation? The point at issue was "Whether the S. M. C. building at the Bubbling Well Cemetery, politely referred to as "The Chapel" and styled officially "The Crematorium' had ever been "'consecrated,'' according to the rites of the Church of England, or any other church?"
In support of the point it was urged that Church S-vices are held there.
In support of the contrary view it was replied that:—Any Shanghai resident, irrespective of his creed or nationality, whether Russian, Japanese, Nonconformist, ete., can be laid at rest in the S.M.C. Cemetery, and the funeral party can use the building, and that consequently it could never have been policy or even possible to have consecrated that building according to Church of England ritual. Ju support of this view a well informed and__highly-placed member of the S.M.C. secretariat staff said that he had never heard of any official consecration of the building.
b. It is prohibited to construct a Crematorium in the consecrated part of a burial ground, (according to English Law Books.)
ce. [have heard it said that Roman Catholics invariably conduct their burial services either at some church in town and then conclude at the grave side, or else hold the whole service at the grave side, solely because the Latin Church prohibits the using "an-of consecrated" buildings, among which the crematorium -was__included. I do not vouch for this point.
I am, etc.,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.