\u00a0<\/b>THE PAUPERS\u2019 SECTION (1922\u20131973)<\/span><\/p>\n Under Municipal by-laws, Bukit Brown had two categories of land for burial\u00a0 designated as \u201cgeneral\u201d and \u201cpauper\u201d. These were sub-divided into numbered plots of specific sizes. In the general category, each plot cost $50 and the burial fee was $$15. Just for comparison, in 1923, a tin containing 50 individual imported cigarettes cost 85 cents,\u00a0 a night out in the movies – 50 cents, a pair of tennis shoe’s from Tan Kah Kee’s company -$1.30 and finally an office shirt – $2.00.<\/span><\/p>\n No fees\u00a0 were charged for burial plots in the <\/span>pauper <\/span><\/i>section intended to serve the destitute,\u00a0 but\u00a0 there were also funeral expenses such as grave diggers,\u00a0 the cost of a no frills funeral and erecting a simple brick\u00a0 tombstone. For such expenses, guilds and clan associations would step in and provide the expenses needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It is estimated that tens of thousands of \u201cordinary\u201d migrants are buried in the paupers\u2019 section, including unclaimed bodies and babies. These sites were certainly\u00a0 less desirable in terms of f<\/span>eng shui <\/span><\/i>considerations prone to be water logged, the decomposition was quick.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There was a period of extenuating circumstance where the location of the paupers section, close to paths, facilitated quick burials under conditions of extreme hardship and uncertainty. It was\u00a0 during the Japanese Occupation where victims of war regardless of status, came to be buried among the poor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n War renders\u00a0 all men equal in death. .<\/span><\/p>\n Elsewhere on Wayfinder,\u00a0 Lim King Chuan #tomb25 and\u00a0 Low Nong Nong #tomb31\u00a0 are examples of tombs in the Pauper Section\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n by Peter Pak<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Further reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n https:\/\/mymindisrojak.blogspot.com\/2017\/08\/coolie-lines-bukit-brown.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n