[TO THE ED/TOR OF THE SPECTATOR:] SIR,—Mr. Carvell Williams is
in error in saying that "all the churchyards closed by Order in Council may be repaired out of the poor-rate." The fact is, "they shall be maintained and repaired," and the "coats and expenses shall be repaid by the overseers out of the rate made for the relief of the poor." (18 and 19 Viet., ch. 128.)
1 think this is an important point in the controversy on this Bill, and it seems clearly to show that the Legislature has affirmed the principle and justice of all paying for what all enjoy (i.e., the decent order of our closed national graveyards). Therefore, if all persons are to enjoy the existing graveyards (in the sense of using any service or doing any act therein they please), all must contri- bute to their maintenance and repair, and where new ground is required, to the purchase.
There is another point which has been lost sight of. Take the case of a Church without a churchyard or burial ground, but with vaults in which certain Nonconformists have rights. If the Bill passes, the present so-called grievance will be intensified, for it applies only to churchyards, and it will be impossible to deny the use of the church building for Nonconformist ministrations in
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