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42
I subjoin an abstract from the letter of Mr. Buzzard,
the clerk to the Poor Board, on the subject:—
"The Governors of the Poor fully appreciate
"the importance of a suggestion intended to
"promote the health and comfort of these
"numerous families who altheugh but little
"removed from poverty yet struggle hard to main"tain
themselves in honest independence of the
"parish rates, and I am directed to suggest for
"your consideration whether the proposition is not
"of such a sanitary character, as you might very
"properly bring under the notice of the Vestry,
" with a view to the provision by the both of a
" convenient receptacle for the purpose, and of
" adequate arrangements for securing its prompt
" use by application to an appointed officer of
" Vestry quite distinct from the Workhouse or the
" autherities thereof, the Governors of the Poor
" feeling satisfied that such an association would
" greatly tend to defeat the desired object."
This question is still in abeyance. At the same
time it cannot be too generally known, in order
that legislative action may be secured, that at the
present moment the Medical Officer of Health has
no power of ordering the removal of a dead body
from rooms where it may be producing upon the
living the most disastrous results. This power is
most desirable where bodies are obliged to be kept
on account of the death being the subject of inquiry
in the coroner's court. Here delay is often