The Daily News FRIDAY, JULY 15, 1904. A PUBLIC MORGUE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 164, 15 July 1904, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, JULY 15, 1904. A PUBLIC MORGUE.

The discussion at the Borough Council meeting on Monday anenl the necessity for the erection of u public morgue in New Plymouth brings up an interesting question, to which, as usual, there are two sides There can be no doubt that there must be provision made for keeping the dead bodies in cases where the deaths occur of people away from home, but opinions are divided as to whether the time has jet arrived for the liorough Council to take action in the matter, when its impoverished finance, Wie grr-at length of unformed and unmetalled sire; ts, want of fortieths, want of lighting', concrete channelling, drainage, and other necessities of the living are taken into consideration. We are told, and we regret to Bay that the statement is true that the private hospitals in the town, whilst fitted with all the conveniences and facilities for careful treatment of the afllicted, make no provision for housing the bodies of those whose ailments prove beyond tho power of man to euro, and who die in these institutions. Neither is there any public morgue to which can be conveyed the bodies of the friendless who may l:e accidentally killed or meet with sudden death from any other cause. True, there is the hospital morgue, but there may at times be difficulty in securing that when the hospital authorities have ig already occupied. And at best it is a wretchedly unkempt affair, which should have been condemned long ago. Tho medical superintendent at the hospital is of opinion that the present morguo should be destroyed, and a new building erected on approved plans, but Dr. Valimine, the district health nfiV.'er, has refused to condemn the structure which at present obtrudes on Ihe view from the main entrance to the hospital grounds. Under the circumstances wo are favourable to steps being taken to erect such ii convenience ati the public expense, in order to prevent a repetition of the occurrence which caused umbrage to tho reserves committee, the placing of dead bodies in a building used on occasion by large numbers of the public. Not only is there an objection to that practice from a sanitary point of view, but a painful scene must result if during the time the building is thus used, other parties should rcufuiro the mortuary chapel for its legitimate purposes. Under tlie present health laws it would prdb'aMy be a matter of considerable expense to each of the private hospitals to have a morgue erected at the several institutions of the kind. Would it be possible for tho Borough Council and the Hospital Board to join forces and erect a building that would meet the whole of the regluiremonts of tho borough and surrounding district ON TUB FOURTH PAGE. Tho Estimates. A Russian Tragedy.