There can be no doubt that where a machine is not required to be constantly at work gas is the cheapest and most convenient heat-producer that we have. It is of course necessary that the infected bedding and clothing should be fetched from the owners’ houses in such a manner as will lessen the risk of spreading infection as much as possible, and for this purpose it is necessary for the local authority to keep a covered hand-cart which should be lined with tin and closed hermetically. It should be sufficiently large to take a mattrass, and be of light construction, so that one man can draw it when full. Before concluding my remarks on disinfection, it is well to state that plenty of carbolic acid should be kept in a mortuary. Sheets saturated with carbolic acid are used to wrap around the dead bodies of infected persons, and sawdust saturated with carbolic acid is also freely used, besides large quantities of that excellent disinfectant, “Sanitas.” [245] _Vide_ ‘A Supplementary Report on the Results of a Special Enquiry into the Practice of Interments in Towns,’ by Edwin Chadwick, 1843. [246] There is no law that can compel any one to receive a dead body into his house. [247] It is important to remove the idea of a “parish dead-house,” otherwise its object will be defeated, as persons will object to allow the bodies of their deceased friends to be taken to it. CHAPTER XXXII. BORROWING UNDER THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD. There are a number of clauses in the Public Health Act 1875, which empower a local authority to borrow money on the credit of the rates for the purpose of “defraying any costs, charges and expenses incurred or to be incurred by them in the execution of the Sanitary Acts.” (_Vide_ 38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 233). The exercise of these powers of borrowing are subject to the following regulations: (1.) Money shall not be borrowed except for permanent works.[248] (2.) The sum borrowed shall not exceed at any time, including all outstanding debts, the assessable value for two years of the district. (3.) Where it exceeds the value of one year, the Local Government Board will not give their sanction until one of their inspectors has held a local enquiry. (4.) The money cannot be borrowed for a longer time than 60 years, and it must be paid off within that time. (5.) Certain regulations as to sinking funds, &c. (_Vide_ 38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 234 _et seq._)