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10
the Registration of Births and Deaths from the Boards of Guardians in
London to the Borough Councils. The Sanitary Committee approved the
suggestion, which was made by the Finsbury Borough Council, for reasons
stated in this Report.
The final test of the furnace at the Crematorium erected by the Corporation
at the City of London Cemetery, Little Ilford, was carried out on the
3rd March, in the presence of a medical representative of the Home Office.
The first human cremation took place on the 18th March, and in the course
of the year there were eight others. From careful weighings it has been
ascertained that the average percentage of ash was 2.86 of the weight of the
body, the average time for the completion of incineration being 63 minutes.
On p. 54 will be found a chart showing the development of this method
of disposing of the dead since cremation received legal sanction in 1884.
The opinions of several persons in charge of Crematoria in different parts of
the Kingdom as to the probability of cremation becoming more general are
also given, from which it will be seen, as might have been expected, that the
more intelligent class of the community are less prejudiced against an ideal
method of destroying dead matter without danger to the living than others
less favoured.
It will be noted that the meat seizures during the year have been exceedingly
heavy, and have consequently thrown a severe strain upon the resources of
the staff engaged in meat inspection.
Much of the Report is taken up with details of the working of the sanitary
provisions of the Factory and Workshop Act by your Inspectors. It will
be seen on p. 25 that in view of the general increase of organised effort to
reduce infantile mortality, one of your Women Inspectors is engaged in
visiting all houses in the City where births have occurred, in order to instruct
mothers as to the best methods of rearing children, especially during the first
twelve months of life.
AREA.
The City of London Registration District comprises an area of 672.7 acres
(excluding tidal water and foreshore), or 1.051 square miles, equal to a
square of 1.0252 miles to a side.
The area of "Registration London" is 74,817 acres (excluding tidal water
and foreshore), or 116.9 square miles, equal to a square of 10.81 miles to a
side.
DENSITY (1905).
City of London, Registration District, at night 33.3 persons to an acre.
„ „ „ „ during the day *550 „ „
Registration London, at night 62.6 „ „
„ „ during the day not known. No Imperial Day Census has yet been
taken.
* This figure refers only to persons "actively engaged in the City during the daytime." The actual
number of people visiting the City daily is probably nearly 1,500,000.