THE CITY MORGUE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 136, 9 June 1911, Page 3

THE CITY MORGUE.

I irgEDFORNEW BUILDING. I jrjLAXATIOxW THE MAYOR. , tinned in reference to complaints city morgue which ' "made at an inquest yesterday by \ f lot and Ferguson, his Worship Prs. y> ye ~ c j p lir r) to d a pressi £_Br£ r, i«thfJ«on oveJlh. '■ *L?«m a legacy to him iron pre- ' B °*° ZSstratious The doctor.' de- : <Toi the position was a little . figfloured, but there was no doubt, ' St the C'itv Council .11 tho past had SUy of neglect in not provtdmg = **"/morirue. The delay was in some, i *rrStined. however, by tho diffi-l So obtaining n site. Offon. of sites, fjteen advertised for several limes,, unsuccessfully, and a proposal to I Miss the municipal property alongside: ' a, destructor had been strenuously opI -id New they had been granted a 1 St on the Freenian's Bay reclamation, : 5 as soon as the legal formalities ; „„ completed they could commence the j 1 .ration of the building, plans for which j ■: S Veady in hand. The Hospital! tard had. however, suggested a site in 1 the hospital grounds, and this would! Lljinlv have the advantage of being j central, but the proposal required the I formal sanction, some members ■ W understood to be averse to it. Ifj ; t i e Board, at its meeting, decided to i pre a site, tenders would be called I whin a fortnight, and if it declined to 1 jo so the Council would start work as , m as possible on the Freenian's Bay _ r p. M. Mackay. chairman of the ' Hospital Board, stated in reference to ; (his matter that tho Board had no - power to grant 'the Council the freehold , of a site, but tho Council's request for j (he lease of n section 100 ft by 50ft would I come up for consideration at the next I meeting, an d ho believed that a ! majority of the Board members favoured 9 tie proposal. I PBACTTCE IX OTHER CEXTBES. 1 SOUTHERN COMMENT. I The details' published in last Monday's 1 'Star," concerning bodies which have j (nca allowed to lie unburied for long I periods after being taken to the morgue, 'i Id aroused considerable interest, and given birth to much comment in other tart! of the Dominion. The Christchurch " Press." after maltlocal inquiries on tho subje.ct, says: — "Inquiries made from the Christchurch tolica authorities went to show that noiiingof the kind alleged above would be tolerated here. Mr. McGrath, the subInspector, informed a reporter that according to a City Council by-law, a copy of which is posted up in the morgue, a dead body must be buried within twentyJour hours of being placed there. He pointed oat that the Crimes Act made it in offence, punishable by two years' hard 1 labour, for anyone to neglect to perform nay duty either imposed on him by law 01 undertaken by him with reference to tie burial of a dead body. This duty TO imposed on near relatives, and it wiuld be a misdemeanour on tho part oi such a relative to neglect to bury a ' dead body, provided ho was financially able to do so. Mr. McGTath stated that j il a body was left in the Chxistchurc-h I morgue nnkriod in the way described shore as. Airing occurred at Auckland, ftie po&t would step in anj have the teial carried owt, and would forward to Miigion a claim against tho charitable aid Tote for the expense incurred. He »te)iDformed the reporter tihat the North Ciiterbury Hospital and Charitable Aid Surd bad a contract with an undertaker for the burial o( the bodies of desftte persons, and if any such neglect OKirred as that mentioned above —from tick a possible reason as a dispute betwn two Boards as to which was liable, apposing a destitute person came from caotber charitable aid district and died hire immediately afterwards—then the police would stop in and follow the course stated." Tie "Lyttel'ton Times," commenting 6a the Auckland oases in a leading wtiele, says—" On hygienic grounds ikrae the carelessness which can allow n tftiy to remain in a public morgue for lour or five days, or even longer, must If condemned most strongly, a.nd from tie sometimes unpractical but a!--*ajß insistent point - view of sentiment it is equally deplorable. The coroIM has given an assurance of his own tlamelessness, and the representative of tie Hospital and Charitable Aid Board w defended himself against criticism, sjd we have no desire to suggest that tffher of these officers has been in error. Mt it is between them that the case Ms to the ground. Somebody has mMered, not for the first time, and tho "ty of a woman has lain imthought of Bd uncared for, denied the last sad j wtsthat are demanded by the simplest i OMcy. The people of Auckland should fotan end at once and for nil time to I w reproach which has tarnished the j Jtpntation of their city. In spite of wr superiority they may find if they j "pre that their humbler neighbour's ' to able to tell them how to <n> about •tar task." b