The present difficulties attending the transport of coffüns into. the countryside have resulted in the establishment locally of coffin re-posi tories, whose purpose is to provide a temporary storage until such time as conditions render it possible for coffins to be transported to the country in safety and without interference.
There is a genuine need at present ior at least temporary coffin repose tories, since the adequate disposal of corpses must be cared for by the Council and suitable sites for storage must be made available to that end Only thereby would be avoided the dumping of coffins on unauthorised sites, with consequent dangers to public health through deterioration of the coffins by exposure. In this latter connection, the Public Health De-pertment continues to be actively engaged in clearing away exposed coffins.
There have always been guilds and other places in the Settlement fur-rushing storage for the dead. Such places, and the present coffin repositories, offer no menace to public health provided the coffins are strong and hermetically sealed.
Though the Council's powers in the extra-Settlement areas are limited, it has taken all possible steps by virtue of its control of the roads in these areas to regulate the erect tion of coffin repositories therein. As a condition of the use of its roads it has been possible to obtain the agreement of all coffin repositories to inspection and control by the Council's officials,—Such inspection and control are in course of being exercised, as a result of which the Council is able to give an assurance that the coffins stored at the repositories off Edinburgh Road and Great "Western Road are well constructed and hermetically sealed and that there is no smell emanating from the repositories with the exception of the smell of burning incense. The temporary smell in the neighbour-kood of the Great Western Road repository emanated not from the repository but from the pond fillingim with garbage or stagnant pond adjacent to the repository, Whilst the necessity in the public interest for temporary coffin storage is appreciated, experience has, how ever, demonstrated the unsuitability of such places being in close proximity to residences. The Council has therefore issued a warning that in future coffin repositories must not be erected close to residences and that their erections to be restricted to districts defined as suitable by the Public Works Department
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.