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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 989, 20 June 1879, Page 2

Evert dav it becomes more apparent that some suitable room in a suitable locality in this town should be set aside a3 a " dead house." At present the bodies of those whose demise is to be the subject of investigation are taken to the nearest hotel, and deposited in some room in n building which is more or less frequented bv the public, or in an outhouse or stable belonging to the same. It frequently happens that corpses taken charge of by the police ate in such an advanced stage of decomposition that they should for sanitary reasons be isolated, except to those whose duty compels them to sutler the unpleasantness of being in their presence f»>r a period during the process of investigation. Hotels and their outbuildings have always been used where the population is sparse as places wherein to deposit the dead that arw to be the subjects of coroners inquiries before interment ; but there is no necessity to adopt such a course here. In the absence of a properly constructed morgue in a proper locality, a room shoutd bo set aside at the police camp to answer the purpose. Not only should this be done in order to avoid the endangerment of the public health ; but, where foul play is suspected, such a loose system as that now in vogue might be the means of defeating justice. Poor M'lnnes' body, which was found in the O.unaru Creek in a decomposed state, was deposited in the stables of a hotel in this town, awaiting an inquiry into the cause of death, which there was some reason to believe had been caused by foul play. Supposing that there had been foul play, what was there to prevent the guilty from carrying away the body and disposing of it in such a manner as would perhaps battle the ettorts of the police to find it. The door of the stable was left unlocked, possibly to give the horses a chance of existence. We know that ingress to the stable was easy of accomplishment during the time that the body was lying there. It is3aid that a person who desired to obtain some bran, to 3crve as a remedy for a sick friend, after having tried another stable, entered that in which what was left of M'lnnes was lying. He called the stableman by name, and, believing that he saw him sleeping, covered over with clothes, instituted an investigation, and found himself in the presence of the drowned man's body, after it had been operated upon for the purposes of the inquest. Such a thing should be impossible. It is most repugnant to every feeling that is admirable in humanity, and the perpetuation of such a system lias nothing whatever to recommend it, whilst it is pregnant with serious objections.