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179
267 respectively during the 5 years (1896-1900) for the old
Parish, i.e., 23.5 less than the yearly average (272.5) during the
same quinquennium. Of the post-mortems, 48 took place at
Wanless Road, and 202 at High Street.
Unfortunately, the High Street Mortuary is not separately
provided, as it might be, with such separate accommodation for
infectious bodies, so that bodies from the Inner Wards have at
present to be taken to Wanless Road, Loughborough. In other
respects, too, the High Street Mortuary and Coroner's Court are
inadequate for the needs of an important Borough like Lambeth.
The Coroner's Court itself is suitable for the purpose for which
it is intended, though an extra room is needed in connection
therewith, wherein visitors, witnesses, etc., can wait, whilst a
retiring room is also required into which the Coroner can retire
with the Jury.
The present Witnesses' Waiting Room, which leads off from
the Coroner's Court, is appropriated by the Coroner as a
Retiring Room for himself and Jury, leaving the visitors without
any room to wait in— such persons having, consequently, to
stand in the open air, and in the wet when it is raining. This
small room which has been appropriated by the Coroner as a
Retiring Room, is sufficient for the purpose for which it is now
used.
The present condition of the Mortuary and Post-Mortem Room
is most unsatisfactory. These buildings are totally inadequate,
and not up to present day ideas, and consequently bodies are
crowded together at times and left exposed to the view of Jurymen
and others, who may be visiting the buildings in connection
with any particular Inquest. The nuisance arising from this
state of affairs is much intensified when two or more bodies
taken from the River, and in advanced stages of putrefaction, are
on view. The amount of room at disposal admits only of one
Container, which is a hermetically sealed tank in which can be
deposited any body that is in a late stage of putrescence. The
present Container itself being constructed many years ago, is not