§ Mr. ROBERT JACKSONasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the statement of a coroner that he had been compelled to ask the proprietor of an hotel to allow a body to remain in the hotel until after an inquest on account of the very unsatisfactory mortuary accommodation provided for the borough of Ipswich; whether he is aware that some witnesses, giving evidence before a Departmental Committee on Coroners' Law in 1908, drew attention to the very unsatisfactory conditions under which bodies were kept awaiting inquests and for the performance of postmortem examinations; what mortuary accommodation is provided for the borough of Ipswich, and what is the condition of it; what mortuary accommoda-is, as a rule, available in small towns and rural districts, and what steps have been taken to improve it since this evidence was given before the Commission 858W of 1908; what steps are proposed to be taken to effect the necessary improvements; and whether consideration has been given to the possibility of improving these conditions if the necessity for the coroner and the jury viewing the body were abolished, so that arrangements could be made for it to be removed to the pathological department of an institution in a neighbouring area, not necessarily within the coroner's jurisdiction, in order that it might be treated with respect and proper means provided for the performance of a post-mortem examination by skilled pathologists and other experts connected with the institution or otherwise?
§ Mr. RHYS DAVIESMy attention has not been drawn to this particular case, but I am aware that there is sometimes considerable difficulty in finding a suitable place for keeping a dead body pending the coroner's inquest. The provision of mortuaries which can be used for this purpose is a matter for the local sanitary authorities, and I have no authority in respect of the same.