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14
The Medical Officer of Health of every Metropolitan Borough shall
send weekly to the London County Council, on a form prescribed by the
Local Government Board, a list of all notices of births received during the
past week.
The notification required to be made under this Act shall be in
addition to, and not in substitution of any Act relating to the registration
of births.
Conference of Medical Officers of Health at the Home
Office—Health Visitor.
The following report was presented to the Public Health and
Housing Committee on the subject of the appointment of a Health
Visitor:—
"On Wednesday, 6th November, your Medical Officer attended a
Conference of Medical Officers of Health at the Home Office, convened
by the Home Secretary to determine the lines of inquiry into
the subject of the influence on infant life by the industrial employment
of women before and after childbirth.
"The subject was discussed with the object of formulating a
systematic inquiry on uniform lines throughout the country.
"The views of those attending the Conference were fully
expressed and resulted in a Committee being appointed to draft a
table with the object of securing uniformity in the return of the
various authorities.
"To obtain the necessary information would be part of the
duties of a Health Visitor, as every home would have to be visited
upon the notification of a birth of a child under the Notification of
Births Act, 1907, and again visited upon the return of the death of a
child under one year of age, when forwarded by a Registrar of Births
and Deaths to the Medical Officer of Health.
"At the close of the Conference a further discussion took place
with respect to the enforcement of the homework provisions of the
Factory Act, inter alia, how the statistical returns of homeworkers
could be improved and what provisions should be made for the more
effective prevention of homework in unwholesome and infected
premises.
"So far as a Health Visitor's duties are concerned, she would