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64
shillings in default, but no fee is payable for the same.
The notification is in addition to and not in substitution
for the requirements of the Act relating to the
Registration of births.
By the terms of the Act the Medical Man or Midwife
in attendance upon the mother is equally responsible
with the parents for the statutory notification under
penalty in default. This obligation thrown upon the
medical profession without fee or reward has been
deeply resented. I agree that the intentions of the
Act are good, and that useful information will be
afforded where it is in operation, but in company with
my brother practitioners, I strongly object to the
machinery provided. To compel a medical man to
reveal a professional secret under pain of monetary
loss is monstrous, and I very much doubt if the Act
can be worked without the goodwill of the doctors.
As previously pointed out, the Act is an adoptive
one and at present only seventeen out of the twentynine
Metropolitan Borough Councils have signified
their intention to put it in force. So far as Bethnal
Green is concerned no decision has been arrived at,
the matter is still under consideration.
THE GLANDERS or FARCY ORDER.
On the 23rd day of August, the Board of Agriculture
and Fisheries issued an order which requires that
every case of Glanders or Farcy occurring in London
shall be notified by the Veterinary Inspector of the
Local Authority to the Medical Officer of Health of
the district in which the case occurs. The Local
Authority upon whom devolves the execution of this