§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether the Secretary for Scotland is aware that a man named Graham recently died of typhus fever in the populous district of Ness, Island of Lewis, and that the body remained uncoffined for three days; will he state whether arrangements can be made for speedy interment in cases such as this; and, seeing that the only fever hospital is at Stornoway, thirty miles distant, will the Secretary for Scotland consider the expediency of arranging for this district to be provided with a place for the isolation of persons suffering from typhus and other infectious diseases.
* THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. A. GRAHAM-MURRAY, Buteshire)The Local Government Board have ascertained 475 that no person of the name of Graham has been notified as having died of typhus fever at Ness. They learn, however, that an old man named Mackay died in that district of typhus on the morning of Sunday the 14th September, that intimation of his death was conveyed to Stornoway the same evening, that on Monday morning instructions were wired to have a coffin prepared, that on Tuesday an undertaker was sent from Stornoway, twenty-six miles distant, as the local undertaker would not coffin the body, and that about two o'clock on the same day the remains were coffined under the personal supervision of the chairman of the local authority—all within fifty-six hours after the man's death. The Board are satisfied that, in the circumstances, the arrangements for interment could not have been more expeditiously carried out, and they are assured that the local authority have made arrangements for interring as speedily as possible in such cases. The question of hospital accommodation for the Lewis District is a very difficult one, and is engaging the attention of the local authority and the Local Government Board.