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At the meeting of the Sanitary Committee held on the 27th of
January a circular letter was considered from the Hammersmith Vestry
upon the subject of the weekly returns of births and deaths supplied by
an official in the Registrar General's office, Somerset House, and for
which payment is made to him personally at the rate of 3d. per entry.
The Hammersmith Vestry urged that the information being of a public
character and acquired in the public interest from public records ought
to be supplied free of such charge, and suggested that representations
to that effect should be made by the Board to the Registrar General;
This course was adopted by the Board on the recommendation of
the Committee.
The Registrar General replied that the information is already
furnished to the several Local Authorities by the registrars of births
and deaths ; it would therefore be possible for the Vestries and Local
Boards to obtain from each other the particulars of deaths which
occur in districts other than those to which they belong.
Such a process would doubtless involve difficulty and delay, so
for the convenience of the Local Authorities, the Registrar General
has consented to their employing a Clerk in the General Register
Office to prepare returns for them during non-official hours.