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24
UNCERTIFIED DEATHS.
There were 2 uncertified deaths registered in St. Pancras in 1906; in 1905,
1904, 1903, and 1902 the numbers were 6, 0, 0, and 0.

PROGRESS IN THE PREVENTION OF INFANTILE MORTALITY.
Registration and Notification of Births.
When first inquiring into the subject of Infantile Mortality I pointed out the
enormous delay that took place in the registration of births, and in May, 1905,
a table of the number of births registered in the previous four quarters was
drawn up showing the delay in weeks, which table was printed and circulated
at the time*. At the Conference on the Prevention of Infantile Mortality
held in St. Pancras Town Hall on the 5th June, 1905, a resolution was passed—
"That it is desirable that births should be registered within five days of their
"occurrence, as is required in the case of deaths by the Births and Deaths
"Registration Acts, and be not delayed for six weeks or longer as now by law
"permitted." Later on this resolution was sent to the Local Government
Board. In the meanwhile the London County Council made arrangements
for midwives to notify the births attended by them during each week, and to
make lists of these births and forward them to the respective Council
of the Boroughs in which they occurred. The result of the working of
this system shows that during the year 1906 of 5,744 births registered, the
majority within two months of their occurrence, 1,034 were notified by midwives,
the majority within two weeks of their occurrence, that is, the proportion
notified by midwives as compared with the total number registered was about
18 per cent., so that about 82 per cent. of the births arc unaffected by the
arrangements made with midwives.
On the 12th December, 1906, I reported as follows to the Public Health
Committee:—
It is within the knowledge of your Committee that resolutions have been
passed at the meetings of Public Authorities and at Conferences urging the
earlier registration or notification of births.
* This table also appeared in the Annual Report of the M. O. H. for 1905, page 25.