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42
burials, at the public expense, of poor persons, occupants in life of
single rooms, are reckoned by hundreds every year; and I cannot
doubt that in a large proportion of these cases the survivors would
avail themselves of the privilege of depositing their dead in a
public mortuary of suitable construction, and in a suitable locality.
Poor persons in somewhat similar circumstances, but above the
pauper class, would, in all probability, also use the mortuary. The
law provides for the removal of the bodies of those who have died
of an infectious disease, viz., on medical certificate and by Justice's
order. Bodies of persons found dead or accidentally killed, and
not identified, would be received as a matter of course. A properly-designed
mortuary would embrace a room for conducting
post-mortem examinations, which are now often made under painful
and distressing circumstances, to say nothing of the inconvenience
to which the operator is put—and there were 154 such examinations
last year by coroner's order. It should also embrace a suitable
Court for the due and proper execution of the coroner's
office.
No progress in this matter has been made since my last report,
a conference with a Committee of the Board of Guardians, with a
view to the appropriation of a portion of the stone yard at the
Dispensary Buildings, Mary Place, Potteries, having proved abortive.
I cannot say I regret this result, as I do not consider the
site a desirable one. The mortuary should be quite distinct from
any association with pauperism, and though privacy of site is desirable,
I hold that it should be placed in the most respectable and
the most central locality that can be obtained, in order to ensure
its being used. I am still of opinion that the
DISINFECTING CHAMBER
should, if possible, be so far associated with the mortuary as to
enable one and the same person to have the charge of both establishments.
Proceedings in respect of both are alike at a standstill,
because we have not been able to procure a site. Fortunately,
during'a considerable portion of the year there has not been very
much need of a chamber, so far as need depends on the prevalence
of infectious disease; but 1 am of opinion that a great amount of
good sanitary work might be done with an efficient chamber, if
only in purifying by heat the often foul and otherwise offensive
bedding and clothing of the poor. Latterly, owing to the increased
prevalence of scarlet fever, and also during the latter period of
1874, a good deal of disinfection has been satisfactorily carried out
for your Vestry by Messrs. Wellan & Co., of Manchester Mews,
Walmer Road, Netting Hill, by chemical agents and heat combined.
As to the- value of disinfection properly done there can
be no doubt and I am not acquainted with a single instance
in which clothing, bedding, &c., that has been properly submitted
to the process, has been the medium of contagion.