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ments of the district and convenient of access for Coroner,
medical men, and juries, but with a little earnestness of
purpose surely it should be provided this year.
I am aware that the matter has been talked of and I
have myself endeavoured to obtain a site that would in my
belief fully meet all the requirements put forward, but as
for the present a final decision may be said to be still
sub judice I may not do more than mention this.
As a year has elapsed it may be of service to members
of the Council anxious to settle this question if I again
repeat some of the reasons previously put forward and
which I venture to consider would justify much more
cogent arguments being used. In the matter of accidents
or deaths necessitating an inquest the Coroner has for
some time past taken to ordering the removal of the body,
in nearly all instances to the mortuary at Kingston, and
then holding the inquest in that town. This is a subject
of very considerable importance to relatives, witnesses,
jury and medical men, as the distance, one or two miles or
more, and the bringing back of the body in many cases
involves expense and much waste of time. But in addition
to this the Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act, 1890,
adopted by your Council, requires the removal of bodies
under certain circumstances to a mortuary. I do not know
what right or powers, if any, we have of access to the
Kingston mortuary for the purposes of the Act, i.e. those
dying of infectious diseases, but I think the matter should
be arranged for in some more suitable way than at present,
and better and more convenient premises provided in our
own district than those we have to put up with at present.
Since now our acreage has been nearly trebled, and the
distances are consequently much further, and with an
increased population the need is considerably greater.