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the previous five years. For Westminster the rate was 12.3 per
thousand, the average being 13.2.
Increased attention has been given during the year to the question
of child life. Parliament has passed an Act, one part of which extends
the supervision of the County Council to persons taking in any infant
to nurse ; previously only those who took in more than one were liable
to inspection. The City Council adopted the Notification of Births Act,
but were not able to put it in force on account ot' a legal difficulty which
the Local Government Board had in sanctioning the employment of a
Voluntary Society (the Health Society), to do the work contemplated
by the Act. This difficulty has now been overcome by the appointment
of the Hon. Secretary as Health Visitor, and the Act came into
force in the beginning of 1909. A number of voluntary notifications
were made during the year, and the Health Society, by arrangement with
the various hospitals, had intimation of 780 confinements before they
took place, consequently the delay in putting the Notification Act in
force was not so detrimental as otherwise would have been the case.
The information which has been obtained shows that the Act will be of
value in leading to a more correct registration of births. I have had
to call the attention of the Registrars to a number of instances in which
births have not been registered within forty-two days, and some persons
have moved from the district without registering. The date on which
a birth occurred is not infrequently wrongly given to the Registrar,
especially by foreign born persons. This is partially due to ignorance
or carelessness, but sometimes it has resulted on the parents calculating
their dates by the Russian or old style, and on at least two occasions
a later date was given purposely, evidently to avoid payment of the
fees which the Registrar may claim if the birth is not registered within
three months.
Considerable attention has been devoted to the methods adopted in
the preparation, storage and sale of food. During the last two years
the Council has set aside an Inspector for the special supervision of
places dealing in food stuffs, with the result that material structural
improvements have been effected and the standard of cleanliness has
been considerably raised. This has been done solely under the limited
powers of the Public Health Act. The requirements of the City
Council have, however, been incorporated in the County Council's
General Powers Bill which has now become law. Plans are submitted
showing the distribution of the numerous places in Westminster in
which food is sold or prepared for consumption on the premises.
Action was taken in a number of instances in regard to want of
cleanliness in milk, two men being prosecuted. The powers of the
Council for dealing with premises at which milk is sold have been