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From the above table it will be seen that 75 per cent, of the registered births are notified under
the Act in the districts where this Act has been adopted.
The proportion of still-births to total births notified under the Act is 2.4 per cent. In the absence
of notification of 25 per cent, of the births occurring it is not possible to state whether this ratio is correct,
but from information obtained in connection with the administration of the Midwives Act it would
appear that a percentage of 2.5 is fairly accurate.
Legislation.
The principal Acts of Parliament passed in 1908 affecting public health administration in
London were the following:—
The Children Act, 1908.—(1) Gives powers to local education authorities for the cleansing of
verminous children attending public elementary schools ; (2) prohibits the sale of cigarettes and
cigarette papers to children under sixteen years of age and includes other provisions for the prevention
of smoking by children.
The White Phosphorus Matches Prohibition Act, 1908.—This Act prohibits the manufacture and
importation of white phosphorus matches from the 1st January, 1910, and also prohibits white phosphorus
matches from being offered for sale from the 1st January, 1911.
The application of these Acts is not limited to London.
The London County Council {General Powers) Act, 1908—(1) Empowers sanitary authorities to
refuse to register, or to remove from the register, the names of dairymen carrying on their business on
unsuitable premises; (2) empowers sanitary authorities to appoint health visitors ; empowers the Local
Government Board to make regulations with regard to the mode of appointment, duties, salary and
tenure of office of health visitors; and empowers the Council to make contribution towards the salaries
of such officers ; (3) empowers sanitary authorities to require proper provision for the cooking of
food in tenement houses, other than those so used before the passing of the Act; (4) enacts regulations
to be enforced by sanitary authorities for premises in which food is prepared or adapted for sale
and for maintaining cleanliness in such premises and in persons so employed ; (5) empowers the Council
to make by-laws (to be enforced by sanitary authorities) with respect to the premises of a vendor of
fried fish, a fish-curer, and a rag and bone dealer, and for regulating the conduct of businesses carried
on therein. The Act provides that the City Corporation may make such by-laws for enforcement
within the City.
Water Supply.
Dr. Houston, Director of Water Examinations, in his report to the Metropolitan Water Board,
for the twelve months ended 31st March, 1909, reiterates conclusions already expressed by him with
regard to "the great importance of active storage from the epidemiological point of view.'' From time
to time, ever since he commenced in August, 1907, continuous and special study of the question of
storage, he has emphasized the need of supplementing existing safeguards by more adequate provision
* That more births are reported under the Act than are registered in this borough is duo to the fact that some
of the births in the City of London Lying-in Hospital, Finsbury, are registered in the district where the parents live,
while under the Notification of Births Act the births would be notified from the hospital.