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time of, or within six hours after, the birth, to give notice
in writing of the birth to the Medical Officer of Health for
the district in which the child is born, in manner provided
by this section.
(2) Provides, that notice shall be deemed to have been given
under this section, by the posting of a prepaid communication,
or the delivery of a written notice, to the Medical
Officer of Health at his office or residence, within 36 hours
after the birth has taken place.
(3) Provides that any person who fails to give notice of a birth
in accordance with this section shall be liable on summary
conviction to a penalty not exceeding 20s. A person shall
not be liable to a penalty under this provision if he shall
satisfy the court that he had reasonable grounds to believe
that notice had been duly given by some other person.
(4) Provides, that the notice under this Act is in addition to, and
not in substitution of, the usual registration of births.
(5) Provides, that this Act shall apply to any child which has
issued forth from its mother after the expiration of the
twenty-eighth week of pregnancy, whether alive or dead.
Up to the end of the year 46 births were notified.
In consequence of the adoption of the above Act, it was necessary
to appoint some officer to carry out its provisions and intentions.
The Council therefore on the 15th June, 1909, decided to appoint a
Lady Health Visitor, at a salary of £100 per annum. Advertisements
were duly made, and from a list of 26 applicants Miss McCleverty,
of Luton, was selected for the appointment, her name and qualifications
being sent to the Local Government Board for approval before
her formal appointment was made.
Such approval had not been received at the close of the year.
ZYMOTIC DISEASES.
The following diseases are classified by the Registrar General
under this heading:—Small Pox, Scarlet Fever, Measles, Diphtheria,
Whooping Cough,"Fever"(Typhus, Enteric and Continued) Diarrhoea,
Plague. The zymotic diseases caused 194 deaths, as compared with
164, 154 and 318 in the three preceding years.
The death rate from zymotic diseases was 1.63, and for the three
preceding years 1.37, 1.33 and 2.75, the average for last ten years
being 1.94.
The zymotic death rate for England and Wales was 1.12, for the
76 great towns l.42,for the 143 smaller towns l.08,and for the County
of London as a whole 1.31.