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9
Prolonged Retention of Dead Bodies.
In the detail of the sanitary work performed during the Quarter, two
cases of the prolonged retention of the dead in inhabited rooms are recorded,
and on looking over the quarterly tabulated statements of the sanitary work
performed during the last two years, it will be observed, that such cases are
of frequent occurrence, and as the Board has now put in force that portion of
the Sanitary Act of 1866, relating to the Registration of Houses, it is probable
that a greater number of similar cases will be brought under the notice
of the Sanitary Officers; for the keeper of every house which has been
registered under the provisions of the Sanitary Act, is required to give
notice to the Board of any case of infectious or contageous disease which is
in such house, and he is also responsible for keeping the house in a cleanly
and wholesome condition.
The two cases of the keeping of dead bodies in rooms occupied by
families were brought under the notice of the Sanitary Officers in a letter
addressed to the Medical Officer of Health, stating that his immediate attention
should be given to the dangerous state of the house next door to the
Jews' Infant School in Rose Court, Commercial Street, in consequence of two
children there lying dead, and of " fever being very bad in that house."
It was ascertained on inspection that the house complained of consisted
of eight rooms, each being occupied by a separate family. There were two
dead bodies in the house, and the smell from one of them was very offensive.
The parents of these children were remonstrated with upon the impropriety
and danger of keeping for so long a time a corpse in a room occupied by
several members of the family. This is all that the officers can do in such
cases until the resolution of the Board is carried into effect respecting the
necessity of erecting a
Mortuary House.
The question of providing a Mortuary has been repeatedly brought under
the notice of the Board has been fully discussed, and a resolution passed
upwards of two years ago, to the following effect, viz., that a public mortuary
ought to be erected. The last time this subject was discussed was in May,
1869, when a Committee for the second time was appointed to consider the
most eligible site for the erection of a mortuary, and the Committee, after having
duly considered the several sites spoken of, agreed to recommend, for the
approval of the Board, as the most eligible site for that purpose, the piece of
ground adjoining the old Parish Dead House, an access to which can be
obtained through Eagle place, Princes Street. At a Meeting of the Board
held on the 24th of May, the report of the Committee was discussed; but it
having been stated that the Poplar Board of Works had made satisfactory
arrangements with the proprietors of the Bow Cemetery for a mortuary