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(2) Notice under this section shall be given by posting a prepaid letter or
postcard addressed to the medical officer of health at his office or
residence, giving the necessary information of the birth within
thirty-six hours after the birth, or by delivering a written notice of
the birth at the office or residence of the medical officer within the
same time; and the local authority shall supply without charge
addressed and stamped postcards containing the form of notice to
any medical practitioner or midwife residing or practising in their
area, who applies for the same.
{3) Any person who fails to give notice of a birth in accordance with
this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not
exceeding twenty shillings : Provided that a person shall not be
liable to a penalty under this provision if he satisfies the court that
he had reasonable grounds to believe that notice had been duly given
by some other person.
(4) The notification required to be made under this Act shall be in
addition to and not in substitution for the requirements of any Act
relating to the registration of births; and any registrar of births
and deaths whose sub-district or any part thereof is situate within
any area in which this Act is adopte I shall at all reasonable times
have access to notices of births received by the medical officer of
health under this Act, or to any book in which those notices may be
recorded, for the purpose of obtaining information concerning births
which may have occurred in his sub-district.
(5) This section shall apply to any child which has issued forth from its
mother after the expiration of the twenty-eight week of prcgnancy,
whether alive or dead.
(6) Any expenses incurred by a local authority in the execution of this
Act shall be paid as part of the expenses of that authority in the
execution of the Acts relating to public health, and in the case of a
rural district council shall be paid as general expenses.
2. (1) A local authority may by resolution adopt this Act in their area, and
the provisions set out in the schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect
to the resolution of adoption.
(2) A resolution of adoption shall not take effect until the consent of the
Local Government Board has been obtained thereto.
(3) It shall be the duty of any local authority by whom this Act is adopted,
as soon as the consent of the Local Government Board is given to the resolution
of adoption, to bring the provisions of this Act to the attention of all
medical practitioners and midwives practising in their area.
(4) In this Act, the expression "local authority" means the council of a
borough (including the council of a metropolitan borough and the mayor,
aldermen, and commons of the city of London in. in common council assembled),
and the council of an urban or a rural district, and the council of a county
(other than the County of London) who may adopt the Act either for their
whole county or for any county district therein: