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7
Stillbirths.—During 1928, 59 stillbirths were registered in the Borough in accordance
with the provisions of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1926.

Notification of Births Acts, 1907 and 1915.—These Acts require the father of a child,
if actually residing in the house where a birth takes place at the time of its occurrence, and
any person in attendance upon the mother at the time of, or within six hours after, the birth,
to give notice in writing of the birth to the Medical Officer of Health of the district in which
the child is born, in the manner provided. Notification applies in the case where a child has
issued forth from its mother after the expiration of the twenty·eighth week of pregnancy,
whether alive or dead.
In practice, it is almost always the doctor or midwife who notifies a birth, and not the
father of the child.
During the year, 2,027 live births were notified to the Medical Officer of Health. There
were also 42 stillbirths notified. Of the 2,069 living and stillbirths notified, 46·0 per cent,
were notified by medical practitioners, 39·5 per cent, by midwives, 2·6 per cent, by parents,
and 11·9 per cent, by medical students or other persons.
A comparison of the Notification Register with the returns supplied by the local Registrars
of Births shows that 97·4 per cent, of the live births and 88·1 per cent, of the stillbirths
occurring within the Borough were duly notified. It will be seen that only a small
proportion of live births are not notified and are not brought to the notice of the Medical
Officer of Health until they come to be registered within the statutory period of six weeks.
In nearly every case of default a cautionary letter was sent to the person responsible, and in
no instance did the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee consider it necessary to institute
legal proceedings.
It is of interest to mention one birth which was registered but not notified. Here
the mother delivered herself and was unattended. There was no one who could be held
responsible for the notification of such a birth.
DEATHS.
The number of deaths that were registered during the year as having taken place in the
Borough was 1,954.
Of these, 507 were of persons whose residence was not in Paddington, 405 dying in
Paddington Institutions and 102 in other places in the Borough.
There were also reported to the Registrar·General 446 deaths of Paddington persons
whose deaths occurred outside the Borough.
This correction gives the nett number of deaths for Paddington as 1,893, making an annual
death·rate of 13·03.

This table gives the numbers of deaths from the various causes as classified locally.
The figures differ somewhat from those supplied by the Registrar·General in the table
appearing on the following page.