View report page

11
even to England, but is to be found in nearly all civilised
countries.
Notification of Births Act.
The Notification of Births Act, 1907, was adopted throughout
the Borough, and came into operation on March 9th,
1908.
Since the Act came into force, a total of 29,749 births
have been notified up to the end of 1912, viz.: 3,473 in
1908 (10 months), 5,143 in 1909, 6,703 in 1910, 7,094 in
1911, and 7,336 in 1912.
The notified cases are visited, or such other measures
taken in connection therewith, in the way of distributing
pamphlets, etc., as are found necessary. Methods of
feeding are carefully inquired into and instruction given as
required.
Returns of all Births (with addresses of mothers), registered
in Lambeth, have also been obtained from the District
Registrars, and this information, in conjunction with that
obtained from the Notification of Births Act, has again
proved of great use in connection with the Borough
Council's endeavours to lessen the mortality amongst infants
(under 1 year of age). The maximum time allowed for
birth registration is 42 days, but this delay is detrimental
to satisfactory administrative procedure, and has been
altered by the Notification of Births Act, 1907, which limits
the time of notification to 36 hours from the time of birth,
though, on the other hand, all births are not yet notified
by those responsible under the Notification of Births Acts.
A list of all notified births is sent to the London County
Council weekly in pursuance of sub-section 5, of section 2,
of the Act, and the Medical Officers of Health concerned are
written to in connection with babies born in Lambeth Public
Institutions, but belonging to Districts outside the Borough.