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15
mention that had it not been that there was a mortuary of
some sort at Long Ditton, of which I made use, rightly or
wrongly, it would have happened that a family of eight
persons, six of them children, living under very poor circumstances
in a four-roomed cottage in Tolworth, would have
been condemned to retain for at least two or three days,
until they could be buried, two dead bodies, one of which
was notified to have died of diphtheria.
The section of the Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act,
1890, referred to above is as follows.
Prohibiting Retention of Dead Bodies in Certain Cases.
"8.—No person without the sanction in writing of the
"Medical Officer of Health or of a registered medical
"practitioner, shall retain unburied elsewhere than in a
"public mortuary or in a room not used at the time as a
"dwelling place, sleeping place, or workroom, for more
"than forty-eight hours, the body of any person who has
"died of any infectious disease."
Cottage Hospital
From the report just issued by the Surbiton Cottage
Hospital it appears that during the past 12 months 258
patients were admitted for treatment as against 220 in
1894.
Of these:—
102 came from Surbiton.
95 „ „ Kingston.
12 ,, ,, Ditton.
11 „ „ Hook.
8 „ ,, Tolworth.
and the remaining 25 from 12 other places.