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52
erect a destructor. This was successfully accomplished, but some
time elapsed before tenders for the building, &c., could be obtained,
and in the meantime an elementary school had been erected on the
adjoining land. At the Local Government Inquiry a most strenuous
opposition was offered to the erection of a dust destructor on that
site. Opinion on the Council was so evenly divided as to the
desirability of proceeding with the scheme, that the Local Government
Board refused its sanction.
The Council then bought the land upon which the destructor
has been erected, and the site is in some respects almost an ideal
one. The land is a portion of a brickfield, and a considerable area
of it had been excavated to a depth of 20 feet. Inclined roadways
to the tipping platform were consequently avoided.
The Destructor is provided with 8 top charging cells, with drying
hearths. Each cell is capable of destroying 18 tons of house refuse
per 24 hours. The temperature of the gases in the combustion
chambers is to be readily maintained at 2,000 degrees Fahr., and the
total residum left after burning the house refuse is not to exceed 27
per cent. by weight of the refuse consumsd.
INQUESTS.
26 inquests were held the cause of death being :—
Accidental burns 5
Overlaying 2
Fracture of skull 2
Run over by a cart 1
Coal gas poisoning 1
Ptomaine poisoning 1
Injury at birth 1
Heart disease 7
Childbirth 1
Weakness from birth 1
Improper feeding 1
Gastric ulcer 1
Apoplexy 1
Alcoholism & Morphinism 1
MORTUARY.
Twenty-six bodies were deposited in the Mortuary and 17 postmortem
examinations were made.
OFFENSIVE TRADES.
Only two offensive trades are carried on within the district—fatextraction
and the manufacture of a chemical fertilizer.