The influenza in Manchester has reached an acute stage. For the last month, the number of sufferers and the rate of mortality have steadily increased, and this week illness has been more widespread than ever.

Medical authorities, however, regard the outbreak as having reached the culminating point, and anticipate a decline from now onwards. Last night, representatives of places of amusement in Manchester met Dr Niven and the chief constable, and decided not, at present, to admit children under fourteen to performances.

Meanwhile, doctors are unable to respond to all the calls made upon them. "We are only human," said a doctor to a representative of the Manchester Guardian yesterday "and cannot do the impossible. It is inevitable that some people cannot be attended to at all."

Interment of the Dead

A situation has arisen in connection with the interment of the dead which, it is stated, is a grave menace to the public health.

All the mortuaries are full. Undertakers, who have been working night and day, cannot keep pace with orders and, at cemeteries, the labour required for grave digging has proved quite inadequate. The opening of a grave cannot be guaranteed in less than eight or ten days from the placing of an order, and instances have occurred of almost a fortnight elapsing between the date of death and the day of burial.

Every effort is being made to secure the release of skilled coffin-makers from the army, and a certain amount of soldier labour for the digging of graves has already been obtained.

Dr Niven , medical officer of health for Manchester, said, in the course of an interview yesterday, that the delay in the carrying out burials and the collection in undertakers' establishments of persons who had died from an infectious disease was certainly a very unsatisfactory state of affairs.

It was an imperative necessity that the War Office should send skilled coffin-makers back to the workshops without delay. The situation might be relieved by greater simplicity in funeral arrangements but relatives were insisting on strict observance of custom, with its paraphernalia of hearse, coaches and elaborate oak coffins. Another method of amelioration would be a more extensive use of the crematorium.

Much more grave than in the summer

Dr Niven added that the outbreak in the middle of last summer was very bad, but the present form of the illness was much more severe.

Although he could not say definitely that the American troops introduced it to this country, it certainly broke out shortly after they were landed. To be quite sure whether or not the Americans did bring it here, it would be necessary to discover whether the London outbreak preceded or followed the arrival of American troops.

Yesterday, all schools in Manchester were closed until after the Christmas holidays, and an effort is being made to bring about the closing of all Sunday schools as from tomorrrow.

Dr Ritchie, schools' medical officer for Manchester, said the closing of schools was caused in a few instances by the illness of the staffs, but the general order was given as a protective measure. On this occasion, the epidemic had developed more slowly, with the result that there was a large number of convalescent and debilitated children, who would, in the ordinary course, drift back to school.

He did not think there were many more people affected now than in the summer, but the colder and more inclement weather had made complications more numerous, and had caused a bigger number of deaths.

The progressive nature of the epidemic is evident from figures showing the death rate in Manchester in the past four weeks.