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room placed at the service of the Coroner at the Town Hall
is, in every respect, unfit for the purpose, and as no better
accommodation can be provided in the building, it would be
well, could an arrangement be made for erecting a suitable
Court in the disused Parish Church-yard contiguous
to the public mortuary. The number of inquests held in
the year ended 25th March last was 184: of these 151
were held at the Coroner's Court,12 at public institutions,
4 at private houses, and 17 at public houses.
In February, 1890, the London County Council passed
a resolution to the effect "That all Coroners having
jurisdiction within the administrative County of London,
be instructed, as far as it is practicable, and accommodation
is available, to cease holding inquests or Coroner's
courts in public houses." This resolution had good effect,
the number of inquests held at public-houses in this parish
having fallen in the same year to 37, and llti having been held
at the Court.
BURIAL OF STILL-BORN CHILDREN.
In December I received a report from the Mortuary
Keeper, as follows:—
"An inquest "was held on the 7th December on the body of a man, a
resident of Battersea, who had been killed at the Imperial Institute.
The inquest was adjourned until the 14th for a further examination of
the body to be made. The coffin was brought by an undertaker from
Wandsworth, at 9 p.m., on the 8th. The body was placed therein
and screwed down, the undertaker not being aware that the inquest
stood adjourned. Upon removing the body from the coffin, for the
purpose of a medical examination being made of the injuries received
by the deceased, I found the bodies of two children under the lining
of the coffin, one at the head and one at the foot of the coffin.
It may be mentioned that the Mortuary Keeper happened to
be from home when the undertaker came, without notice,
and that the coffin contained a good deal of sawdust, which