Burial and Cremation Act 1964

General provisions

50: Burials to be registered

You could also call this:

"Recording Burials in a Cemetery Book"

Illustration for Burial and Cremation Act 1964

When someone is buried in a cemetery, you need to record it in a special book. This book is kept by the local authority and it shows where each body is buried in the cemetery. The book also describes each grave so you can find it easily. The local authority keeps this book up to date and it is indexed, which means it is organised in a way that makes it easy to search. You can look at this book at a convenient place and at a reasonable time, but you have to pay a small fee of 5 shillings to do so.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM355860.

This page was last updated on 12 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Health and wellbeing > Public healthGovernment and voting > Local councils

49: Burial and cremation of poor persons, or

"Free burial or cremation for people who cannot afford it"

51: Removal of body, or

"Rules for moving a body from a burial site"

Part 7General provisions

50Burials to be registered

All burials within any cemetery shall be registered in a register to be provided and kept for that purpose by the local authority and in such register shall be distinguished in what parts of the cemetery the several bodies are buried, and a proper description of every grave shall be given, so that the situation thereof can be ascertained, and such register shall be indexed, so as to facilitate searches for entries therein.
Every register shall be open for inspection at all reasonable times, at some convenient place, upon payment of a fee of 5 shillings for every such inspection.

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1908 No 19 s 66