View report page

88
Health of the District during the September
Quarter.
A striking result of the cool summer is the low
incidence of sickness and death from diarrhoea and intestinal
maladies. The average deaths during the quarter for the
past ten years from diarrhœal maladies is 76, the number
varying from a minimum of 26 in 1903 to a maximum of
146 in 1899.
This year, however, the deaths from this cause only
amount to 11.
Pulmonary complaints have also been below the
average, as well as deaths from consumption.
Notification of Birtbs Act, 1907.
The Notification of Births Act, 1907, received the final
sanction on August 28th. It is a decided step indirectly in
the right direction, and in those localities in which the Act
is adopted will assist greatly in the prevention of infant
mortality.
Leaving on one side the complicated and rather lengthy
steps to be taken to put the Act in force, the essential
provisions are simply as follows: Notification of a birth
must be given within 36 hours to the Officers of the local
Sanitary Authority. This duty is cast upon the father,
should he be actually residing in the house, and any person
" in attendance upon the mother at the time of or within
six hours after the birth."
In this district arrangements have been made with the
Registrars of Births and Deaths to give weekly lists of births
registered. Should the Council elect to adopt the Act
these lists will be unnecessary, and the place and date of
every birth will be known at the Sanitary Office within two
days of its occurrence.