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Notification of Births Act, 1907.—Parents are allowed a period of six weeks within
which to register the birth of a child, but the fulfilment of this duty is so frequently postponed
until the last few days of this period that the records of the Registrars of Births do not enable
Public Health authorities to gain that early knowledge of the birth of children in their districts
which is so essential to the success of the work of Health Visitors. This disadvantage arising from
delay in birth registration has been met by the Notification of Births Act, which requires 3,11 live
births and all still births occurring after the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy to be notified within
thirty-six hours to the Medical Officer of Health of the district in which they occur.
During the year, 2.657 births to Kensington mothers were registered, and of this number 2,549
or 96 per cent. were notified in accordance with the requirements of the Act. The number of
stillbirths notified was 56, and the number of births notified as having occurred in Kensington but
belonging to other districts was 116.

The importance of securing due compliance with the Notification of Births Act cannot be
over-estimated, for the information obtained constitutes the starting point of the work of Health
Visitors.