Burial and Cremation Act 1964

General provisions

52: Inspection of cemeteries

You could also call this:

"Checking cemeteries are well looked after"

Illustration for Burial and Cremation Act 1964

You can inspect a cemetery if you are an employee of the public service appointed by the Minister or a Health Protection Officer under the Health Act 1956. You do this to check the state of the cemetery and its accounts. You also check if the rules are being followed. If you find the cemetery is not being looked after, you tell the local authority to fix it. If they do not fix it, you can do the repairs and charge them for it. You report any neglect to the Minister who decides what to do next, including closing the cemetery under section 41.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM355862.

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

Topics:

Health and wellbeing > Public healthGovernment and voting > Local councils

51: Removal of body, or

"Rules for moving a body from a burial site"

53: Vesting of title in certain cases, or

"Who owns the cemetery land and how it is transferred"

Part 7General provisions

52Inspection of cemeteries

An employee of the public service appointed by the Minister for the purpose, or any person designated as a Health Protection Officer under the Health Act 1956, may inspect any cemetery or any portion of a cemetery exclusively set apart for any denomination in order to—
ascertain the state and condition of it; and
examine the accounts of receipts and expenditure in relation to it; and
if regulations or bylaws in relation to it have been made under this Act, ascertain whether the regulations or bylaws are being observed and complied with.

If any person authorised to inspect a cemetery under subsection (1) finds such cemetery or any part thereof or the fences thereof in a condition of neglect or want of repair, he shall serve a notice in writing on the local authority specifying the particulars of such condition and requiring the same to be remedied, and, if the local authority fails, for the period of 1 month from the receipt of such notice, to comply with any such requirements, he may cause all necessary repairs to be done forthwith and may recover the costs and expenses thereof from the local authority.
Without prejudice to the powers conferred by subsection (2) the person so authorised shall report any such case of neglect or want of repair to the Minister who shall thereupon consider whether such cemetery ought to be closed under section 41 and take such other lawful steps as he thinks necessary to prevent desecration.

Compare

1908 No 19 ss 69, 71

Notes

Section 52(1) substituted, on 22 October 2003, by section 4 of the Burial and Cremation Amendment Act 2003 (2003 No 63).
Section 52(1): amended, on 7 August 2020, by section 135 of the Public Service Act 2020 (2020 No 40).
Section 52(3): amended, on 1 January 1969, by section 2 of the Burial and Cremation Amendment Act 1968 (1968 No 71).