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1927
14
Defective plastering repaired (number of rooms) 694
Rooms where dirty walls and ceilings have been cleansd
and redecorated 3908
Defective floors repaired 163
[Defective or dangerous stairs repaired 29
Defective doors and windows repaired 343
Defective kitchen ranges and fire grates repaired 297
Defective washing coppers repaired 108
Coal cupboards provided and repaired 42
New W. C. apartments provided 14
Accumulations of offensive matter removed 25
Drains unstopped and cleansed 216
Overcrowding nuisances abated 10
Drains tested, exposed for examination, etc. 94
Smoke observations taken 174
Smoke nuisances abated on service of notice 11
Nuisances from pigs and other animals abated 7
Notifications of waste of water sent to Metropolitan Water
Board 286
BIRTHS.
Table 7 gives particulars of the births registered and
notified in the district, and the births belonging to the district
which have occurred and been registered outside the district.
Table 7 which gives particulars of the births notified and
registered, illustrates the antiquated condition of our birth
registration arrangements, and the absence of any provision in
these laws or in their administration for the furtherance of child
welfare schemes. These laws, of course, were passed before the
birth of any effective public health legislation, and they have
been allowed to continue and very little attempt made to bring
them into line with modern public health requirements.
Under the Notification of Births Act, a birth has to be
notified within 36 hours to the Medical Officer of Health. In
addition, the birth has to be registered with the local registrar
of births. The birth has to be notified, and registered in the
district in which a birth has taken place, and not in the district
to which the birth belongs. For instance, if an Acton mother
goes for her confinement to a nursing home or a maternity
hospital in London, the birth is notified to the Medical Officer of
Health of the Metropolitan Borough in which the institution is
situated, and registered with the local registrar of births of the
same area.
In the vast majority of instances, the Medical Officer of
Health forwards the particulars of the birth to us, and we are
enabled to visit if necessary and advise the mother. Under the