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31
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The Infant Mortality has further decreased during the year, and now
stands at 131 per 1,000 births. This is the lowest figure that has been
recorded for the district. No doubt much of this has been brought about
by the disposition at the present time of mothers to breast-feed their
children, and to the advice which it has been found possible to give early
in the life of the infant by the information received through the Notification
of Births Act of 1907. The success of this Act has been particularly
gratifying, as more than ninety-five per cent. of the births occurring were
notified to me within the statutory period.
It is a fact, also, that with rare exceptions, all the births are
notified to me sooner or later, working as we do in close touch with the
various Registrars.
Our system in regard to obtaining this information is that a list of
all notifications received by me is sent early in each week to the Registrars
in the district, and they in return inform me of all births they have
registered, and which have not been notified to me. On receipt of
information that a birth has not been duly notified to me I cause the
following letter to be sent to the parents concerned :—
Dear Sib (ok Madam),
NOTIFICATION OF BIRTHS ACT, 1907.
In the above Act it is made compulsory that the parents of any
child shall notify the birth of any such child within 36 hours to the
Medical Officer of Health of the district, under a penalty in failing to
do so of a sum not exceeding twenty shillings.
It has been brought to my notice that a child was born into
your family on last, at and that
such birth was not notified to me in accordance with the above Act.
I hereby give you notice that unless I receive a notification on
the enclosed card forthwith the Council of the Borough will be
advised to direct that a summons be taken out against you to recover
the said penalty.
Yours faithfully,
G. B. MILLSON,
Medical Officer of Health.