View report page

13
4. That notification of all births be given within 48 hours to the
Medical Officer of Health of the district in which they occur.*
5. That, in the opinion of this Conference, the question of the
insurance of infant lives under 12 months is one demanding serious
consideration, and, with a view to receiving reliable information, the
Government should be asked to appoint a departmental committee of
enquiry on the whole question.
6. (a) That the period of one month's abstention from factory work
away from home now imposed on mothers be extended to at least three
months, and that, on their return to work, evidence must be produced
satisfactory to the Local Authority that proper provision has been made
for the care of the child.
(b) That no employer of labour shall permit a woman advanced in
pregnancy to engage in factory labour unless her ability therefor has been
certified to the satisfaction of the Local Authority.
7. (a) That, having regard to the ascertained fact that in centres of
industries where women are largely employed away from their homes, an
excessive number of deaths of infants takes place, and that this is contributed
to by the improper conditions existing at the houses in which infants
are placed out to nurse, it is necessary that the persons by whom, and the
places into which infants are received, should be under supervision by the
Local Sanitary Authority.
(b) That the Infant Life Protection Act be amended to remedy
abuses which are not at present piovided against.
• Whilst this report is going through the press Lord Robert Cecil asked leave to
introduce a Bill to provide for the early notification of births. Under the present
registration law six weeks are allowed for registration to take place. Lord Robert
Cecil's Bill is modelled upon the provision which already exists at Huddersfield. It
provides that there should be within 48 hours of the birth of every child a notification
of its birth sent to the Medical Officer of Health. That notification should be given
in the simplest way without any formalities. It might be given by a postcard. The
duty was thrown upon the father of the child of making the notification, and, failing
him, upon any one who has been in attendance on the mother. Another provision
provides that notification should be made in the cases of stillborn children. Lord
Cecil stated one-third of the children who died in the first year died within six weeks
of their birth. Leave was given for the Bill to be introduced and read a first time.
There are no Health Visitors in Poplar, but should this Bill become law the Hints on
Infant Feeding will be forwardod to the mother by return of post within three days of
the birth, instead of seven weeks, as at present.
C