Page 61 - KBHA Bulletin 10

58

elsewhere in the Colony. Eventually in August 1899 Dr. Gregory was available again,
but the Fish Hoek site was evidently finally rejected (two-and-a-half years had passed)

for, six weeks later, another “New Cemetery” was being proposed at Kleintuin –
present-day Clovelly. This was favoured because of its greater proximity and it needed

only a road to be constructed to it.

However, once the construction cost of the access road had been estimated, it became

apparent that there was a large piece of land eastward of the vlei mouth at Muizenberg
and that, for similar expenditure on road access, much greater general development

opportunities could be opened up than at Kleintuin. With this new focus the matter
ceased to be one for the Colonial Government and became again one for the

Municipality itself. The matter of the location of a cemetery now became connected

with that of a satisfactory domestic waste disposal site – another type of burial. Until
this time solid waste had been buried in the sand on Muizenberg beach but it was

reckoned that the sand was too porous to prevent flies from contact with the material,

and therefore it was not a hygienic site. Furthermore, the lease on the land was expiring
and so a new site had to be found. The Public Works Committee recommended a site

somewhere east of the vlei mouth. This necessitated construction of a bridge across the
vlei mouth and so this was put in hand.

However, in June 1900 Dr. Gregory reported that the proposed cemetery site, although

comprised of seven to eight feet of loose sand, was unsatisfactory as it was not high

enough above sea level and that the water table would therefore rise into the graves
during the wet season. He ordered that all burials be stopped within the municipality

and that Maitland be used. The Mayor recommended that arrangements be made with
the railways for special burial trains. Three months later (September 1900) the General

Manager of Railways reported that, because of an insufficient number of steam engines,
it would be impossible to arrange for a funeral car to leave daily from Kalk Bay! The

Mayor in turn pointed out that all they wanted was that such a car be in readiness at a

few hours’ notice. It was decided to investigate once again the possibility of using the
Kleintuin site, with the Divisional Council carrying the cost of the access road.