A MORGUE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 279, 6 August 1889, Page 2

A MORGUE.

.Councillor Williams «t yesterday* sitting of the Borough Council did good eer?ioe in directing the attention of the public to the necessity thvt exists of having some public place in which dead bodies can be deposited before interment- As the law now stands: the licenced victualler* are between two stools, an<l in accepting, the mandate, of the law 6& the one hand are > abjecting Uifm«elyet»,t»vthe likliliood of a fine, . from breaking the' law, on the o'ber hand. It in n weir known 'act that in eases of t(eci4efl(a|jdeath if is the ea'tom to convey (he hod y of the deot-nsed per. son to the nrHrei". hottl, and to ca 1 1 upiM the liceuitfv in receive itucb body mi i an ort^r f or i|ie t.urial ia received. It in cle matter . to the constable as to the state of preservation the body may

bein.be has obtained it, and hu sot* torrtWDifc until the Coroner and nil jary bare enquired into tbe dram.. ' stances attending to death, therefore the conttmbVaa by law empowered calbnpon the landlord to receive it. We donotkuow whether many hotels keep fl building set apart specially for this purpose, (hd»; < jsh~we*doabt"ir; hut in the majority of case.? they bare not, and the bpdy.is laid ki ik* handiest empty building for the time W*ng" ftow tbe landlord receives one pt>nnd for this 1 service, bnfr if tbe'deceSWd v shonld'have died from an infectious di*e*V e « another 1 body, the Local Board of Ht,al«b raay ftirnnpcm him and fine bimTor^ doing Of. course in tbe ordinary jttylden '■ deaths, that are Usually enquired into, death 1 " . hat generally arisen from accident ty'ore ■ ' than lingering sickness, bat without » morgue/ and having only the chase* receptacle* for such cases, it can easily be seen bow excessively foolish tbe) townspeople are to allow s«cn an «asy source for spreading disease infjanj . • longer continue in their midst. Those . who have been on some j^n'er are well ■, aware that even in drowning when ther^ has been i delay in finding tbe! body, , tbe s«ate in which it is b, is not «b &S*P& • off danger, as to make it wim to wrir% ■-'"• * it into th^yery centre of , the »Mv» moving life of the town. A moxgne> or mortuary, we look upon, as a jje.cessitj, we hiave pointed out why;* . , from one point of view, and now'wewill take the v other. t All public ' bodies are not on|y allowed, but are '|; ! ; supposed, to cany" oufc.ith^f Public'; ,\ Health Act, and in it there are pro visions as to dealing with infectiom ■ diseases. A householder is ) com-' pelled under a penalty for omisaioo, to a fine not exceeding ten pounds* to give immediate notice -to the local 3oard when any inmate i> taken sick with a highly, infectious disease, and the local Board has then to take the steps set out by the Act to .prevent the spread ot the same. .^';. are all, aware that in this colony wi . ') houses are none" tVo Ja^fce,jan(? . that a, person, dying of an inf ecfioa«\ • disease hw endangered the' heaHfe of \ ' tb.e other mmatos, an 3 eveif'nibp© so . after his demise; but the local BOArd, if they possessed! a inbi^tfa^j Imw power to minimise the tf-'fl, by ordering the removal of, t'ae bcidy > t*V ithe mortuary nntil burial. These pror posrtls might seem harsh to the rela tives, hut to the residents they art) only just. Tbe expense of such a building need not be large, and could be reoouped' partfy bySTthe : the charges that may he made; for for the use of it. The- arectfotf, of one will be agreed *& withoutidißeUv'sion, we believe, but the site oi^h'^ ssime may be open to : modh' ment, in any cas» it shou db'e-pkced in as isolated and as «eatral ( aisipot as ein be found. ' •.. ■ = ■ ■• * - 11