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MORTUARY
The Council provide a mortuary under the provisions of the Public Health Act,
1936, and from time to time the Coroner, whose district includes Finchley, uses his
power in Section 24 of the Coroner's Amendment Act, 1926, to direct that bodies from
the Potters Bar and Friern Barnet Urban Districts, which are also within his district,
shall be taken to the Finchley mortuary.
One hundred and ninety bodies were received into the mortuary during 1962
and of these, 38 were from Friern Barnet and 15 from Potters Bar. Post Mortem
examinations were carried out in all cases.
MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS
Thirty-seven persons were examined on appointment to the Council's stall and
1 workman was examined with a view to his admission to the Council's Sickness
Pay Scheme.
In addition, 9 elderly employees were examined for proposed extension of service.
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AREA
Water Supply
The water supply to all dwellings in the Borough is direct from the public water
mains and, during the year, was satisfactory in quality and quantity. The bulk of
the water is supplied by the Lee Valley Water Company. Four hundred and forty
bacteriological and 19 chemical samples of water supplied to the district were examined
by the Company and were reported to conform to standards of purity considered
suitable for public supply.
With regard to the standards by which the degree of purity of the water supply
is measured, I give below an extract from a letter from the Chief Chemist and
Bacteriologist of the Lee Valley Water Company:—
"Bacteriologically the standard aimed at is that coli-aerogenes and Eschericia coli
should be absent from 100 ml in all samples, and in a sample from the distribution
system this implies correct treatment of the original raw water, and that no secondary
contamination of the supply via a leaking reservoir or water tower roof, etc., has
arisen.
"It is somewhat more difficult to give a chemical definition as there are no
generally accepted standards by which measurement is made. However, my own
interpretation is that the sample shall contain no excess of saline or mineral matter in
solution or in suspension, and one which contains no more than acknowledged harmless
traces of organic matter or heavy metals. To illustrate the point, all the Company's
waters contain harmless traces of nitrate. There is at the same time a significant
connection between nitrate and methaemoglobinacmia and in the event of detecting
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