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4 notification of births
Notification of Births.—The notifications received during the year, limited to
children born within the Borough, numbered 2,732, 61 being duplicates. In the analysis
given below showing the origins of the certificates, the most striking change is the increase
in the number furnished by "Others." That increase has been mainly caused by the
notification of births in the local hospitals being effected by the lay staffs.

The proportion of births registered without previous notification was (on an average)
3.7 per cent. during 1914-18, with a maximum of 5.3 in 1917 and a minimum of 2.8 in 1916.
In 1919 the proportion of un-notified births was 3.0 per cent., and in 1920, 3.3. Last year
while the proportion for the year rose to 3.8 per cent., those for the quarters decreased
from 4.8 per cent. in the first to 3.2 per cent. in the last. The greatest amount of neglect
of the Notification of Births Act takes place in the Southern Registration Sub-District,

where it is probable that a minimum of harm accrues from neglect to notify. It appears to
be desirable that the registration of births should be hastened and that the notification
of births be thereby rendered unnecessary. Such change would necessitate prompt transfer
of registration of births effected in outlying districts.
Still-Births. The notifications received during the year included 80 of infants born dead,
79 being legitimate and one illegitimate. The percentage of still-births to all births was 2.99
last year, or 0.02 above the average (2.97) for 1914-18, but 0.11 below the percentage for 1920.
(See below). There was a notable reduction in the proportion of still-births among illegitimate
children—2.99 per cent. as compared with 6.00 per cent. (average) for 1914-18, and 7.69 per
cent. for 1920.

The tabulation given below shows the variations in the proportions of still-births from
year to year in the Wards of the Borough. The increases noted during the last two years
in Church and Lancaster Gate, West, Wards are exceptional, but in the latter Ward the
proportions are based on very small numbers, and, therefore, hardly "significant."