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18
TRANSFERABLE DEATHS.
The following Memorandum was received from
Somerset House on February 1st last:—
Deaths of reservists, Territorials and other
troops enlisting for the war only will be transferred
to the home address of the deceased where this
information is obtainable. Deaths of other British
troops not possessing a private residence, and of
foreign troops and refugees, will be regarded as
non-transferable, but it is proposed to publish a
supplementary table in the Registrar-General's
Annual Report showing for each administrative
area appreciably affected the number of deaths and
the death rate exclusive of all deaths arising through
the war.
So far no deaths of any of our men fighting abroad
or training in camp at home have been included in the
mortality returns supplied to me by the RegistrarGeneral,
but during the compilation of the statistics
for this report I observed differences between the figures
I obtained and those issued from Somerset House which
I could not reconcile. I accordingly requested my
Chief Clerk, Mr. Bilham, to interview Mr. Finch, of
the Statistical Department at Somerset House. This
gentleman explained that the figures issued by the
Registrar-General in his annual summary do not include
certain transferable deaths of which information is
received by local medical officers of health during the
year; it also appears that when the final figures for the
year are issued these transferable deaths are included,
but are for a slightly different period. It follows therefore
that, in present circumstances, close agreement between