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merits and provide an efficient disinfecting oven. Surely in a
matter of- this kind expense should not be considered. It is
my opinion that if the oven does not do the work it is called
upon to do (and I am far from being convinced that it does
destroy the germs of infectious disease) it is useless, and is
only calculated to place ourselves and the public in a false
position.
This is a very serious matter, and should we ever have any
epidemic of, say, Cholera or Small Pox, and your officers are
not provided' with the proper means of dealing with it the
responsibility or consequences must rest upon the Vestry.
Midwives Registration Bill.
A Bill for the purposes of the proper Registration of Midwives
is at the present time before Parliament; it is, as its name
implies, for the purposes of placing all women who aCt as
midwives under proper supervision, they will have to produce
evidence of being specially qualified before being placed on a
register ; this to my mind is a very wise provision, and will be
a great protection to poor women who cannot afford to have
medical men to attend them.
The Bill proposes that each Local Authority shall appoint
the Medical Officer of Health, or some other practitioner to be the
supervising authority. Cases are constantly occurring where
unskilled women attend the poorer classes, and frequently
'carrying the infection of the disease known as Puerperal or
Child-bed Fever from patient to patient; if the proposed ACt is
found to be the means of diminishing the deaths from this
disease, it will greatly benefit the class of persons who employ
midwives. The evidence is incontestible that the uneducated
midwife is chiefly responsible for this disease which is of a
very fatal character. The following table will illustrate how
it has affected the various sanitary districts of the metropolis
during the past five years:—