THE CALLOUS AND THE DEAD.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1146, 6 June 1911, Page 4

THE CALLOUS AND THE DEAD.

MORGUE SCENES AT AUCKLAND. iby Talecravh.— Special Correspondents Auckland, June 5. Tho "Star" publishes a story to-night which seems to call ior investigation. It stales:—"When n case ot it sudden or strange deatli occurs the body is very otten removed'ln the city morgue—a diinial and sombre little brick bunding hidden away amongst the timber yards and boat-building sueds in tho vicinity of the, Jlpbion Street Wharf. The preliminary inquiry by the Coroner being over, and an order for burial having been issued, tho body should be at mice i\!nioved to a last , resting place. For some occult reason, however, this is not always done, and a 'Star' representative thi9 morning gathered 50:110 particulars of some sombre cases. He happened to lx! making inquiry of (he caretaker regarding a certain case, and learned that tha body had been there for days, being, in fact, that of a woman who had died in Grey Strrpt Inst Thursday night.' Ever since its admission to the morgue the body had lain shroudless and unpropalcil for burial, covered only by a tarpaulin. In a corner were her discarded clothes — pathetic bits of finery, high-heeled boots, and other little things. When would the body bo taken away for burial? No 0110 knew, nnd apparently no one cared." Particulars nf this case led to further inquiries. "Yes there had been worse enscs. The body of a man, already in a state of decomposition, when hauled out of the harlxmr, wr.s kent in tho morgue for five days, tho conditions within the building at (lie end of that period being beyond description. Cases of the kind were not infrequent, and there was one which was even worse. The bodv of a child, dug up in a garden at Epsom, after being there for a month, was left in tho morquo for nine days despite the fact that the mother nnd relatives were known, and an order for burial had been issued long before." The reason? Presumably a, difference of nninion as to whether the relatives or the local authorities should bear.the oxnetiM" of burial. The Coroner, interviewed, said that as far as ho was concerned, there was never any delay in his Dennrtiucnt. Frequently where a death tonk place on Raturdav he ordered a preliminary inquiry for Rnmlnv, so that a certificate of burial mHit lie issued at onco. Presumably tho delays took plnrn in an effort fn ensure recognition or i'Vntideation of tho body. Tn one ense which ho had known, no fewer than seven women had, in turn, identified one body as that of a lost

husband.