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63
The Notification of Births. The remark of the President of the Local Government Board,
above cited, with regard to the " Huddersfield experimental Act," had reference to powers obtained
by the Corporation of that borough, in a section of their local Act passed in the last Parliamentary
Session, which reads as follows :—
" (1). Iu the case of every child born within the borough after the commencement of this
Act, it shall be the duty of the father of the child, if he is actually residing in the house where
the birth takes place at the time of its occurrence, or in his absence of any person in attendance
upon the mother at the the time of the birth or within Bix hours thereafter, to send or
give notice of the birth to the medical officer within forty-eight hours after such birth."
The fee payable for notification is one shilling: the penalty for default to notify, twenty
shillings.
The object of the Act (which will remain in force for five years) is to enable advice and
assistance to be given by Health Visitors to poor mothers, for the rearing of their infants. In this
connexion if is interesting to observe that the movement for appointing ladies to aid in the effort to
reduce infantile mortality, and to foster improvement in the condition of the poor, and the labouring
class, generally, is rapidly gaining ground throughout the country.
Preservation of Infant Life. In this connexion, reference may be made to an interesting
experiment by the ex-Mayor of Huddersfield (Alderman Broadbent, one of the hnn. secretaries of
the National Conference) who at the commencement of his period of office, in 1904, promised a
birthday gift of twenty shillings to every baby born in a particular district in the Borough, who
should be alive at the end of a year after birth. Between November 1904, and November 1905,112
babies were born. The infantile mortality-rate (i.e. the deaths under one year to 1,000 registered
births) during the preceding ten years, in the said district, had been 122, and the object was to
ascertain whether, by constant watchfulness and help on the part of lady workers, the rate could
not be reduced. The object aimed at appears to have been realised, for of the 112 babies born, 107
received the gift; four only died; whilst one having left the district could not be traced. The
mortality figure, counting four deaths, was 35, the infantile death-rate thus being something like a
third only of the average rate.
Infant Life Protection formed the subject of a discussion, last year, at a meeting of the
Society of Medical Officers of Health (Metropolitan Branch) at which a resolution was passed to
the effect—
" That it is desirable in the interests of public health, that fection 2 of the Infant Life Protection
Act, 1897, should be amended, in order to provide for the control of persons receiving
for hire or reward, for a period of 48 hours, one or more infanta under the age of five years ;
and, further, that in London the controlling authorities under the Act should be the Borough
Councils."
It was pointed out that the law, at present, makes no provision for the protection of children
who are nursed, under unsatisfactory conditions, by unregistered persons who are careful to take
only one child, and thus escape the operation of the regulations made by the County Council. That
the Borough Councils have means the County Council do not possess, of ascertaining the conditions
under which infants are being reared, hardly admits of question. A copy of the resolution was
forwarded to the Local Government Board, the London County Council, and the Borough Councils;
and the latter bodies were invited to support it, and make representations to the Local Government
Board in accordance therewith.
INFANTILE MORTALITY IN KENSINGTON : THE WORK OF THE HEALTH
VISITOR.
At pages 29-31 a short account is given of an inquiry made by the Lady Sanitary
Inspectors (Miss de Chaumont and Miss Looker) with respect to deaths from infantile summer
diarrhoea in the twelve weeks July 15th—October 6th. During this period 121 deaths from
diarrhoea were registered, including 77 under one year of age, of which 66 occurred in three wards in
North Kensington (population 73,000), viz., St. Charles (28) ; Golborne (18) and Norland (20); and
only 11 in the remaining six wards (population 106,500). An excessive proportion of the deaths
occurred, as usual, in the families of the poorer classes.*
*At page 66 reference is made to an inquiry by the Health Visitor with respect to 250 deaths of children under one year.