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Notification of Births Acts, 1907 and 1915.—These Acts require the father of a child, if actually
residing in the house where a birth takes place at the time of its occurrence, and any person in attendance
upon the mother at the time of, or within six hours after, the birth, to give notice
in writing of the birth to the Medical Officer of Health of the district in which the child
is born, in the manner provided. Notification applies in the case where a child has issued forth
from its mother after the expiration of the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy, whether alive or dead.
In practice, it is almost always the doctor or midwife who notifies a birth, and not the father of
the child.
Notification of Births in 1924.
During the year 2,330 live births were notified to the Medical Officer of Health. There were
also 74 stillbirths notified. Of the 2,404 living and stillbirths notified, 45.4 per cent. were notified
by Medical Practitioners, 36.9 per cent. by Midwives, 5.2 per cent. by Parents and 12.5 per cent.
by other persons.
A comparison of the Notification Register with the Returns supplied by the local Registrars of
Births showed that 96.6 per cent. of the births occurring within the Borough were duly notified.
Notification of Births in 1925.
During the year 2,237 live births were notified to the Medical Officer of Health. There were
also 61 stillbirths notified. Of the 2,298 living and stillbirths notified, 44.9 per cent. were notified
by Medical Practitioners, 37.1 per cent. by Midwives, 3.0 per cent. by Parents and 15.0 per cent.
by other persons.
Of the births registered in the Borough, 96.9 per cent. were notified. Rather more than 3 per
cent. of all live births are not notified in accordance with the law, and are not brought to the notice
of the Medical Officer of Health until they come to be registered within the statutory period of six
weeks. In nearly every case of default a cautionary letter was sent to the person in default, but in
no instance did the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee consider it necessary to institute legal
proceedings for default.
DEATHS.
Deaths in 1924.—The number of deaths that were registered during the year as having taken
place in the Borough was 2,054.
Of these, 475 were of persons whose residence was not in Paddington, 395 dying in Paddington
Institutions and 80 in other places in the Borough.
There were also reported to the Registrar.General 341 deaths of Paddington persons whose
deaths occurred outside the Borough.
This correction gives the nett number of deaths for Paddington as 1,920, making an annual deathrate
of 13.1.
The Registrar-General's final figure for the nett number of deaths is given as 1,922, but this does
not affect the figure for the death-rate given above.