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67
DUTIES OF THE MORTUARY KEEPER.
1.—The Mortuary Keeper shall be under the direction of the Sanitary Committee.
2.—He shall take charge of and be responsible for the safe and decent custody of
all dead bodies during the time they remain in the Mortuary.
3.—He shall enter in a book provided for that purpose such particulars as to the
reception and removal of all dead bodies as shall be determined by the Sanitary
Committee.
4.—He shall keep the two Mortuary chambers, the post-mortem room,
Lavatories, and Passages clean and in good order, and shall twice in each week
wash them down thoroughly.
5.—The post-mortem room, tables, and utensils shall be cleansed immediately
upon the completion of each examination, and it shall be the duty of the Keeper to
see that the body is afterwards either placed in one of the shells provided, or
replaced in the coffin in which it was brought.
6.—It shall be his duty to see that the regulations under which bodies are allowed
to be placed in the Mortuary are properly complied with.
COMPULSORY REMOVAL OF DEAD BODIES TO MORTUARY.
By the 27th Section of the Sanitary Act, 1866, it is enacted—"That when any
dead body of one who has died of any infectious disease is retained in a room in
which persons live or sleep, or any dead body which is in such a state as to endanger
the health of the inmates of the same house or room, is retained in such house or
room, any Justice may, on a certificate signed by a legally qualified medical practitioner,
order the body to be removed to such proper place of reception at the cost
of the nuisance authority, and direct the same to be buried within a time to be
limited in such order."
By the 28th Section of the same Act, the Coroner has the power to order the
removal of the body of any deceased person upon whom he intends to hold an
inquest to the Mortuary for the performance of a post-mortem examination.
Signed, by order of the Sanitary Committee,
GEORGE PADDOCK BATE, M.D.,
Medical Officer of Health.