View report page

From the foregoing table it will be observed that out of
18,053 births occurring during the five year period 1909-13,
6,898, or 38 per cent., were attended by midwives only.
This number probably includes all the cases where the social
circumstances of the parent do no permit of the nourishment
and attention required by a mother during pregnancy and
after delivery.
The Notification of Births Act, 1907, applies only to
children born either alive or dead after the expiration of the
twenty-eighth week of pregnancy, and in this connection it
is noteworthy that during the live years shown in the above
table 458 still births were recorded, or, on the average, 91
per annum. It should, however, be noted that this represents
the number of still births only after the seventh month
of pregnancy, and it may be fairly concluded that the number
of mis-carriages prior to the seventh month of pregnancy is
considerably greater than the number of still births recorded.
In fact, it would probably be under-estimating the position
to say that the average number of mis-carriages and still
births per annum is at least equal to the average number of
deaths of infants under one year per annum.
It is difficult without further enquiry to state to what
extent these deaths of infants in utero are preventable, but
there is little doubt that a large proportion is due to mal-