View report page

80
the medical officer of health states that the increased use of the last mortuary will necessitate
some re-arrangement. In Lambeth there are now two mortuaries, inquest rooms
and coroners' courts, one at Wanless-road, Loughborough, and the other in High-street, Lambeth.
In 1896 a site for an additional mortuary near to Norwood Cemetery was approved, but owing
to some difficulty the purchase was not completed. In 1901 it was decided to obtain a site in
Norwood Ward; the medical officer states that only a small mortuary is needed with accommodation
for infectious cases and other dead bodies, and that this would provide for the wants of Tulse-hill
and Norwood Wards, the Wanless-road mortuary for Brixton, Herne-hill and Stockwell wards,
and the High-street mortuary would provide for Marsh, Bishop's, Prince's and Vauxhall Wards.
The new mortuary in Sheepcote-lane, Battersea, was opened in April, 1902. In the Borough
of Wandsworth there are five mortuaries, one having been in the past provided for each
parish. In Clapham parish there are both a mortuary and coroner's court; in Streatham there
is a mortuary, and inquests are held at the Streatham Hall and other public buildings; in Putney
there is a mortuary and inquests are held at the parish offices, but these offices are to be disposed
of; in Tooting there is a mortuary which is of an unsatisfactory kind, and in Wandsworth
there is a mortuary which is unsuitable. A conference was held with the County Council
and it was resolved that a central coroner's court and mortuary should be provided in Wandsworth
for the last three parishes. In Deptford the borough council were negotiating for a site for a
mortuary and coroner's court. The medical officer of health of Greenwich states that there
is great need of modern mortuary accommodation in the district, the existing mortuaries being
unsuitable.
Water supply.
In his report to the Local Government Board the Water Examiner, under the Metropolis
Water Act, refers to the recommendation of the Royal Commission, presided over by Lord
Llandaff, that it should be made obligatory on the companies to pass water drawn from the river
into a storage reservoir before letting it on to the filter-beds, and he states that at present some
of the companies which have large storage reservoirs take water direct from the river or merely
run it through some of their smaller reservoirs before passing it on to the filter-beds. With
reference to the provision of storage reservoirs from which water can be drawn when the river
is in bad condition, Dr. Thorpe states that of the Thames companies, the Chelsea, West Middlesex
and Southwark Companies having from 13.4 to 18.7 days' storage, delivered the best water during
the six winter months of 1901, the Grand Junction Company with less than three days' storage
delivered water containing most organic impurity, whilst the Lambeth Company supplied water
of slightly better quality than the former company. Referring to diagrams in his report showing
variations in the proportions of organic elements in the filtered waters of the companies, and
to the storage capacity of the different companies' reservoirs, he comments on the fact that the
diagrams show that " the Chelsea and West Middlesex water, as delivered in London, is not
affected (as indicated by rise in organic matter) by unfavourable condition of the river until
about 10 or 12 days after the Grand Junction and Lambeth Companies' supplies exhibit marked
evidence of increased organic pollution." It is interesting to recollect that in 1894, when
increase of enteric fever in London followed the exceptional river floods in the winter of that
year, the increase of cases of this disease noted occurred in the area of the company then having
subsidence reservoirs with the smallest storage capacity (1.5 days' supply) a week before it
became conspicuous in the areas supplied by the companies having reservoirs with larger storage
capacity, and the same difference was noticeable in the record of the amount of " oxygen
consumed."

The London Equalisation of Rates Act, 1894.
The Equalisation of Rates Act provides that the London County Council shall in each year
form a fund equal to a rate of sixpence in the pound on the rateable value of London. The
contribution from each parish to the fund is to be in proportion to its rateable value. The fund
thus formed is to be distributed among the sanitary districts in proportion to their population.
Where a sanitary district comprises two or more parishes, and the aggregate of the contributions
from such parishes is less than the grant apportioned to the district, the difference shall be paid
out of the fund to the sanitary authority of the district, and no payment towards any equalisation
charge shall be required from any parish in the district.
Subject to the above, when the contribution from the parish is less than the grant due, the