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80
several years past, and a site in Cottage Street was acquired by the
late Poplar District Board of Works for the erection thereon of a
Coroner's Court, Mortuary and Infectious Diseases Shelter. The
provision of a Coroner's Court is the duty of the London County
Council, and that body agreed to pay a rental of £150 per annum
for the Court. The site cost £2,413, and the Architect's estimate
for the buildings was £6,443. The consent of the Local Government
Board was obtained to a Loan for the carrying out of the
scheme. In view, however, of the fact that, consequent on the
passing of the London Government Act, 1899, buildings would
come into the possession of the Borough Council in which the
Coroner might conveniently hold his Court, the proposed erection
of a Coroner's Court was abandoned, and the question of the
provision of Mortuary accommodation referred to the Public
Health Committee. The Mortuary at Bickmore Street, taken
over from Poplar Parish, was viewed, and plans prepared for its
adaptation as a Mortuary for the Borough. The position and size
of the site were, however, against the adoption of that site, and the
Borough Surveyor was instructed to examine sites in the possession
of the Council and report as to the desirability of any of them
being utilized for mortuary purposes, in connection with existing
buildings in which Coroner's Courts could be held."
" The Borough Surveyor submitted to us the site in Cottage
Street, Poplar, and that, acquired for depot purposes, in High
Street, Bromley. He also presented plans suitable for either site,
providing for separate mortuaries for infectious and non-infectious
bodies, with lobby between to enable bodies to be viewed by
juries or witnesses without entering the mortuaries, and provide !
with cases for exhibiting clothes removed from bodies. A postmortem
room with dissecting table, and a separate laboratory or
microscopic room for more minute examinations are included. A
waiting room, with w.c. acommodation, and the usual Caretaker's
rooms are provided."
" The approximate estimate of the cost of the buildings proposed
is £1,500."