View report page

92
CHAPEL OF REST FOR THE DEAD.
With a view to correct the evil dealt with in the preceding paragraph, I recommended (No.
3 report, 29th March, 1902) the provision of a mortuary chapel at North Kensington. The
grounds for this recommendation were fully set out in the annual report for 1902, page 124. The
Council, upon the advice of the Public Health Committee, adopted the recommendation; and also
my further proposal to place the building at the south-east corner of Avondale Park adjacent to
the park keeper's residence. The building has now been completed, at a total cost of about
£1,300. It comprises a mortuary chapel, two waiting rooms for mourners, suitably furnished,
sanitary conveniences, etc. It was opened in June, and at the end of the year 26 bodies had
been deposited. Regulations were framed for the management of the Chapel, which is under the
care of the park superintendent, as follows:—
1. Application for permission to deposit a body in the Chapel shall be made to the
Custodian, at the Lodge, Avondale Park.
2. A body may be deposited between the hours of eight o'clock in the morning and eight
o'clock in the evening.
3. A body, except in case of emergency, shall be enclosed before admittance to the
Chapel in a pitched shell or coffin.
4. Every person depositing a body shall enter the necessary particulars, or furnish the
information for entry, in a book kept for that purpose, and shall sign the book.
5. Every person for the time being employed in depositing a body in the Chapel, or in
removing a body therefrom, shall, while so employed, conduct himself in all respects with
decency and propriety.
6. A body having been brought to the Chapel, shall not be removed therefrom, except
for burial.
7. Should any shell or coffin sent with a body prove to be in a defective condition, a
sound and larger shell (in which the defective shell can be enclosed) must, on notice, be supplied
to abate the nuisance.
8. When the body is in an offensive condition from decomposition or other causes, the
coffin must be filled in with a disinfecting powder, and screwed down, before admittance to
the Chapel, and the coffin shall not be re-opened without the consent of the Medical Officer
of Health.
9. It 6hall be the duty of the Medical Officer of Health to give notice to the person
responsible, in order to secure the immediate burial of a body when, from decomposition or
other causes, it shall be considered necessary on grounds of public health.
10. Every person who has caused a body to be deposited in the Chapel shall cause the
body to be removed therefrom, for the purpose of burial, within a period not exceeding six
days from the date of death.
11. In any case when a body has been deposited in the Chapel, and the relatives or
friends of the deceased person shall, after notice in writing, refuse or neglect to remove such
body for burial in accordance with these regulations, notice shall be given to the Relieving
Officer, and the body handed over for burial to the Guardians of the Poor, who may recover
the expense incurred by them, in a summary manner, from any person legally liable to pay
the expense of such burial.
12. A body shall be removed from the Chapel in a decent and proper manner, enclosed
in a pitched shell or coffin, and the person removing the body shall sign an acknowledgment
of the receipt thereof, in a book provided for the purpose.
13. A body may be viewed by relatives or friends between the hours of eight o'clock in
the morning and eight o'clock in the evening.
14. Every person who, being a friend or relative of one whose body has been deposited
in the Chapel, has been admitted to view the bodv, shall conduct himself in all respects with
decency and propriety.
15. No large assemblage of persons shall be allowed within the Chapel on the admission
or removal of a body. The only persons to be admitted shall consist of the relatives and
friends of the deceased, the undertaker, and the bearers of the body.