View report page

38
conditional upon such notification. There would then be a chance of
ascertaining and combating ante-natal causes of infantile mortality, of
which at present we have no knowledge, and against which we have no
weapon. Bearing 011 the subject of infantile mortality there is what
appears to me a singular and unjust arrangement concerning the
Maternity Benefit under the National Insurance Act, and that is that a
married woman, wife of an insured man. cannot claim sickness benefit
during pregnancy, but an insured woman can claim such sickness benefit
even if she is not married at all. This seems to me to be at least
anomalous if not unjust to the married woman.

Calculated upon the totals of the above figures the average deathrates
of legitimate and illegitimate children under one year for the period
1906-1913 arefound to be 66and 241 per 1000 respectively.
It is obvious that there is an excessive death-rate among illegitimate
children, and the matter is one of great difficulty. There seems to be
little that will serve as a substitute for true maternal care, but special
attention is now being given to all illegitimate births that come under
our notice as occurring among Hampstead women; and I am not without
hope that the very high death-rate that obtains among illegitimate
children of this Borough will be reduced in future years.