309 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
Compan\', has 1,200 acres of burying 
ground, and its authorized capital is a 
round quarter of a million sterling. It 
possesses also borrowing powers to the 
i mount of another quarter of a million, 
but hitherto has not exercised any of 
those borrowing powers, and has issued 
only 14,916 of its £10 shares. 
As a matter of fact, 21,705 shares 
were originally issued, but 789 of them, 
representing, of course, £7,890, were 
forfeited for some reason or other. Al- 
though the company is an old-estab- 
lished one, having been incorporated by 
Act of Parliament in 1852, it is not 
doing so well for the investor as its two 
elder brethren, the London and the Ab- 
ney Park Companies. It declares two 
dividends each year — one out of the 
proceeds of land sales, and the other out 
of what is termed “general net revenue.” 
For last year these dividends were re- 
spectively 1 per cent and 3 per cent, 
making 4 per cent in all. The official 
Stock Excl'.ange quotation for the £10 
shares now stands at about £7 5s. 
These figures are not altogether al- 
luring to investors, and can be put in 
the shade by some privately owned 
cemeteries that could be named outside 
the London radius. It is these latter 
which the youngest of London com- 
panies, the Great Southern Cemetery, 
Crematorium, and Land Company, Ltd., 
hopes to emulate. As we know, its 
beard includes three leading Metropoli- 
tan undertakers. The eighty acres of 
freehold land which the company pos- 
sesses — bought, bv the way, from Pain's, 
the pyrotechnists — is near Streatham 
Common and Mitcham Stations, and the 
capital of the company is £40,000 in £l 
shares, of which 30,000 were offered for 
subscription. How the company is likely 
to fare it is of course too early to say, 
but if the directors’ anticipations are 
realized the shareholders will rejoice 
over a ten per cent dividend at least. 
Still all this at present is in the air. 
There is much to do and much to be 
tliought of before the company can be- 
gin to earn money. It is true that a 
jiortion of the land is to be used or 
disposed of for building purposes ; but 
even then selling or letting of land in 
this way is not done in a day. Then a 
portion of the estate is to be turned to 
account for club grounds — cricket, foot- 
ball, etc. Indeed, as clubs of the kind 
already rent portions it is to be pre- 
sumed that revenue from this source 
will commence at once. 
One thing is sure in regard to the 
Great Southern. The promoters — prac- 
tical men as we have said — show that 
they know what are the qualifications 
necessary for earning dividends by the 
sale, etc., of burial lots. This we saw 
from the prospectus the directors issued. 
In the first place, says the document, the 
nearer the “campo santo” is situated to 
a dense population the better. So the 
prospectus felt itself in a position to 
claim that its cemetery would “meet the 
requirements” of the “enormous popu- 
lation of South London which is in- 
creasing very greatly every year.” Then 
there is the picturesque requirement, 
which is also met. “The land is slightly 
undulating and well timbered, and offers 
one of the finest sites that could be 
found.” Nowadays, too, the cemetery, 
to be complete, must possess a "crema- 
torium and a columbarium. " These will 
be added “when required,” which we 
may be sure will not be for some time. 
Then, very wisely, “in addition to pro 
viding Church and Chapel grounds a 
portion of the laud will be reserved for 
vhe interment of Roman Catholics.” 
Thus it will be seen that the Great 
Southern omits nothing as regards com- 
pleteness, likely to make its cemetery a 
desirable place for interment, and hence 
as a concern calculated to earn divi- 
dends for its shareholders. • Certainly 
there is no immediate prospect of bury- 
ing going out of fashion, and if it did 
tile Company has its crematorium clause 
to fall back upon. That, however, at 
present, appears a far-off need. 
Tlie London Necropolis Company, 
mentioned above, operates an undertak- 
ing establishment, crematory, cemetery, 
and monument business. An extended 
description of its grounds and business 
operations has been previously given in 
Park and Cemetery. 
PRIVATE FAMILY COLUMBARIUM 
Two e.xamples of 
that very rare form 
of memorial, the 
private columbar- 
ium, have recently 
been shown in Park 
AND Cemetery, and 
we present herewith 
another, erected for 
the family of L. L. 
Mendelssohn, of De- 
troit, in Woodmere 
cemetery in that city. 
It is a structure of 
very graceful pro- 
port’ons, .substantial 
construction and 
pleasing design, and 
was erected by Rob- 
inson & Co., of De- 
troit. 
. It is of sandstone, 
with h a n d s o m e 
bronze door and art 
glass windows. The 
interior is four feet 
square, finished in 
marble and is pro- 
vided with niches 
for the urns that re- 
ceive the ashes. 
The bronze door 
was furnished by the 
Vulcan Company of 
Detroit. 
Another of these 
interesting and very 
rare structures is 
illustrated on an- 
other page in this 
issue in our ac- 
count of the Mo- 
ravian Cemetery. 
A PRIVATE COLUMBARIUM. 
Woodmere Cemetery, Detroit. 
