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208
mortuary is adjacent, convenient and suitable for the purpose.
Accordingly, the Works, Sanitary, and General Purposes Committee
authorized me to communicate with the Churchwardens,,
who, as trustees of the Vestry Hall, kindly consented to place a
room at the disposal of the Coroner whenever required, on due
notice being given, and subject to the payment which the Coroner
is authorized to make, and does make, for such accommodation
provided elsewhere for the same purpose.
About 150 inquests are held in the Parish annually, and the
majority of them, probably, could be held at the Vestry Hall, were
it the pleasure of the Coroner, in whose power it is, as already
mentioned, to order bodies to be removed to the "place provided
for 'post mortem examinations," when such examination is
necessary. In such cases—about two-thirds of the whole
number—it would seem a natural thing for a judge, for such the
Coroner is, to hold his Court hi a public building; but this,
practically, he never does, giving as his reason the impossibility
of complying with the requirement of the Churchwardens for
previous application for the room, prior to the issue of the notices
to the jurymen, witnesses, &c. It is, nevertheless, impossible to
resist the conviction that if there were a common desire in the
matter, on the part of the Coroner and of those who have the
control of the building, the wishes of your Vestry and, I may
say, of the parishioners generally, that Inquests should be held
at the Vestry Hall, would soon be realized.
DISINFECTION.
During the year ended March 25th, 1885, a large number of
infected articles of clothing, bedding, carpets, curtains, &c., were
satisfactorily disinfected by the contractor at the cost of your
Vestry, the owners being too poor to bear the expense. The
weight of the articles was more than 14 tons: their number
7,157, and the cost of the process £263. Three hundred and
sixteen rooms in 240 houses were disinfected with sulphurous
acid by your Vestiy's officer, no charge being made in the majority