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114
Ten bodies were detained after inquests to await burial owing
to lack of accommodation at the homes, and 6 owing to advanced
decomposition.
One body was admitted to the Mortuary to await burial, by
order of the Medical Officer of Health.

Still Births.
The Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1926, came into operation
on June 1st, 1927. This Act requires that all still born children shall
be duly registered with the Registrar of Births and Deaths in addition
to being notified to the Medical Officer of Health. A still born child
is any child born after the 28th week of pregnancy. The bodies of
such infants must not be buried before a certificate is issued by the
Registrar, or on the order of a Coroner, if there has been an inquest.
From June 1st until December 31st, 1927, the number of still births
registered with the Registrars was 26.
Following the requirements of the Notification of Births Act, 1907,
40 still births were notified to your Medical Officer of Health during
the year under report.
Section 7 of the Act requires that when a still birth is registered, the
relatives giving information must either (l) deliver to the Registrar a
written certificate that the child was not born alive, signed by a
registered medical practitioner or certified midwife who was in attendance
at the birth or who has examined the body of the child, or (2) make a
prescribed declaration to the effect that no practitioner or midwife was
in attendance or had examined the body, or that his or her certificate
cannot be obtained, and that the child was not born alive. When any
case as indicated in (2) arises, i.e., where no doctor or midwife was in
attendance at the birth or where his or her certificate cannot be
obtained, the Registrar should communicate with the Medical Officer of
Health for enquiry to be made in order that he may be in a position to