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63
cent.; while Circulatory diseases (9.9 per cent.,) and Developmental
diseases (8.6 per cent.) are next in importance.
Inquests.— twenty-three inquests were held during the year
and the following verdicts were returned —
1. From Natural Causes 11
2. Accidental—Injury to Spine by fall 2
Scald 1
Suffocation by over-laying 2
Want of attention at birth 2 7
3. Suicidal—Drowning 3
Shooting 1 4
4. Homicidal—Strangulation of new-born
child 1 1
Total 23
Uncertified deaths.—Five deaths occurred in which no
qualified practitioner had attended during the patients' illness.
All these were of children under two years of age, the probable
cause of death being stated in three cases to be Convulsions,
and in two Acute Laryngitis.
An important defect of the Register of Deaths Act may be
here alluded to. It is not necessary to register the deaths of
any person before burial, but the 17th section of 37 and 38
Vict. Cap. 58 provides that the person who buries or performs
any religious service for the burial of any dead body as to
which no order or certificate under this section is delivered
to him, shall within seven days after the burial, give notice
thereof to the Registrar, and if he fail to do so shall be liable
to a fine not exceeding £10.
In the case which drew attention to this defect in the Act,
the parents, who were unmarried, only lived two days in this
sub-district before their child died. They then took the body
to Chelsea, obtained a death certificate from a medical man
who had previously known the child, and subsequently buried
the child at Hanwell. A week after the burial and two weeks