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12
At the end of November, without any communication from the London
County Council to myself, I became aware that instructions were given that all
inquest cases were to be removed to the Limehouse Mortuary.
It must be remembered that the pressing need of local provision for the
immediate removal of persons dying in Registered Common Lodging-Houses
and other institutions had caused the Whitechapel District Board to build, at
a considerable cost, the Mortuary and Coroner's Court, which has for years
been of the utmost service in the District, and now by the action of the
London County Council it is probable that soon some of the scandals of former
days may be repeated. So that no delay should take place in the removal of
the dead from the common kitchen of a Lodging-House or elsewhere, the
Police possessed a key of the Mortuary, so that it was available at any hour.
Should such an emergency now arise, say at 10 or 11 o'clock at night, the
body must remain unmoved until business hours in the morning. I was thus
informed by the Coroner's Officer soon after the New Order had been issued.
I feel bound, in the interest of public decency, to protest against this
arrangement. Another great objection to the removal of bodies to such a
distance, is the fact that medical men must make a long journey to Limehouse
to attend inquests, whereas formerly they were at no such disadvantage owing
to the central position of the Mortuary and Coroner's Court.
Just a word or two about Bubonic Plague. The Local Government
Board and the London County Council had arranged a complete system for
coping with the disease had it appeared in our midst, and the Metropolitan
Asylums' Board were prepared with suitable accommodation for patients. Our
own provision consisted in the appointment of two doctors to whom suspicious
cases might be referred for daily supervision. As a fact only two cases were
reported upon at a cost to the District of two guineas. These cases were
seamen who had been landed from a ship which came from an infected Port.