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71
accidental deaths of unknown persons, the bodies have been deposited
in the Workhouse mortuary. This, however, is not a suitable
place; and the use of it, moreover, is objected to by the Board of
Guardians. Several years ago a Committee was appointed to give
effect to the resolution of your Vestry to provide a mortuary, but
nothing came of the labours of the Committee, as it was found impracticable
to obtain a site. There is one site, however, which has always
appeared to me superior to all others, viz., the disused Parish Churchyard,
at the rear of the Vestry Hall; and it is highly satisfactory to me
to know that the overtures which have now at length been made by
your Vestry to the Churchwardens for a grant of that site, have been
met by those gentlemen in a public spirit, which encourages the belief
that, if no unforseen obstacles should arise, we may hope before very
long to see the building of a mortuary taken in hand."
In the above terms, strictly applicable to the present state of affairs,
I referred in my annual report last year to the subject of a public
mortuary. Some little progress, however, has since been made, for at a
conference between your Vestry's Works, Sanitary and General Purposes
Committee and the Churchwardens, held this year, the latter
assented in principle to the proposition for the erection of a mortuary
on the disused burial ground attached to the Parish Church, the exact
site and the extent of the proposed buildings, moreover, having been
provisionally settled. Your Vestry subsequently requested Mr. Walker,
the Architect of the New Vestry Hall, to prepare a design and plans
for the mortuary, to be submitted to the Churchwardens for approval in
accordance with their request. The matter now awaits their decision,
which I doubt not will be conformable with the true interests of the
living, and with due respect for the dead.
DISINFECTION.
During the parochial year ended March 25th, 1879, a large number
of articles of bedding, clothing, furniture, &c., were disinfected, mostly
at the cost of your Vestry, by Messrs. Wellan & Co., the contractors, the
process having become necessary on account of infectious diseases; the
weight of the articles was 167 cwt., their number 3822, and the cost of
disinfecting them £161 0s. 0d. Large as this outlay may appear, it is
probably less than would have been incurred had your Vestry provided a