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194
MORTUARY.
The number of bodies received into the mortuary in the last four years were
as follows—
Year 1889 1890 1891 1892
300 337 340 375
During 1892 twenty of the bodies admitted were dead of infectious diseases.
Necessity therefore exists for the provision of a separate room for these, and I have
recommended the General Purposes Committee that steps be taken to effect this.
In nine cases the bodies were removed to the mortuary by order of the department.
CUSTOMS AND INLAND REVENUE ACTS.
Under this Act 352 applications were made to me for certificates of the
sanitary fitness of dwellings, whereby an abatement of the inhabited house duty
might be obtained. In 97 instances certificates were granted at once after
inspection; in 117 dwellings the owners were informed that certain amendments
in regard to drainage, cleanliness, lighting, ventilation, paving or such like would
have first to be carried out; 61 certificates were then given after a second
inspection, and in the remaining 56 either the works have not been carried out,
are not completed, or were not finished in time to obtain the abatement of the tax
for that year, so that the certificate was not required for 1892. Thus 158
certificates were granted in respect of the same number of dwellings.
21??
DISINFECTION.
The Vestry after considering the claims of the various disinfecting apparatus
in the market decided to purchase one which has recently been held in a patent
action to be the patent of Mr. W. Lyons, though an appeal about the matter to
the House of Lords is pending. In the first quarter of 1892 plans were prepared
for the enlargement of the old disinfecting chamber, and in the beginning of
April the new oven was able to be used for the first time.
By the old method coal gas was used to generate dry heat, which in some
instances damaged the articles, and generally the temperature was very unequal
in different parts of the apparatus; in the new a greater amount of heat can be
obtained by the use of steam, which in itself is a powerful adjunct to the process of
disinfection, and no damage can be done to the articles exposed to it—with the
exception of leather, which can still be treated with dry heat only, by the same
apparatus.