Whenever an inquest shall be held, or any case in which the coroner is involved, if there be no relative or friend of the deceased, nor any person willing to bury the body, nor any person whose duty it is to attend to such burial, the coroner shall order the embalming of the body, procure an inexpensive plain coffin, and cause a grave to be dug and the body to be conveyed thereto and buried, or shall cause the body to be cremated and shall cause the cremated remains to be disposed of in a lawful manner in a marked grave. It shall be the duty of the coroner, in so doing, to avoid all unnecessary expense, and to render to the commission an accurate statement of all money expended by him for such purpose; and the county commission shall make to him a reasonable allowance for his actual expenses in procuring the coffin, transporting the deceased to the grave, digging the grave and burying the body, or in obtaining such cremation and disposition of the cremated remains in a marked grave; and also a reasonable allowance, according to the circumstances, for his own time and services in attending to such preparations and burial, or to such cremation and disposition in a marked grave.