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14
The Notification of Births Act, 1907, was adopted throughout
the Borough during 1908, and came into operation on
March 9th. Full details will be found in future Reports as
to the working of the Act and the results of the Health
Visitor's visits, when the Act has been in force for 12 months.
Returns of all Births (with addresses of mothers) that occur
in Lambeth have been obtained from the District Registrars,
and this information in conjunction with that obtained from
the Notification of Births Act (3473 births) has again proved
of great use in connection with the Borough Council's endeavours
to lessen the high mortality amongst infants (under
1 year of age) by distributing pamphlets dealing with the
proper management and feeding of infants, &c. The time allowed
for birth registration is 42 days, but this difficulty in
administrative procedure has been altered by the Notification
of Births Act, 1907, which limits the time of notification to
36 hours from the time of birth.
the marriage rate.
The number of Marriages registered in the Borough of
Lambeth during the year 1908 was 2411 as compared with
2501 during 1907, and a yearly average of 2338 in the old
Parish of Lambeth for the 10 years 1891-1900.
The marriage-rate for Lambeth Borough during 1908 is
therefore, 15.0 per 1000 inhabitants, as compared with 15.9
for London.
Tables B and C show the number of marriages and the
marriage-rates for the last ten years in the old Parish of
Lambeth, and it will again be noticed that the marriage-rate
has been gradually, but persistently, falling off during that
period (as also during the previous decennium). Marriage
statistics are of little value from a public health point of
view.