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59
This detention in the public mortuaries of offensive bodies is a distinct
danger to the health of the neighbourhood, and to avoid a repetition of a
scandal either the relieving officer must bury the bodies at the expense of
the Guardians or some means must be adopted of rendering the detention
of the bodies harmless from a health point of view.
It will be seen that an order made by the Magistrate on the relieving
officer to bury will tend to weaken the obligation that friends have of
burying the bodies of their relatives, and so a serious burden of expense
is likely to be cast upon the rates. In most cases the friends of dead
relatives will bury the body if they are given sufficient time to collect
the money, or to obtain the necessary funds in other ways.
This difficulty of detention is to be surmounted by providing the
water-tight metal chests which exist in other mortuaries. In these
chests the bodies could be retained for any length of time without danger
to the Public Health, and to the avoidance of expense and scandal to the
Public Authorities."
(Since writing this report a metal air-tight tank has been provided
at each Mortuary.)