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have received returns in due course, and both
last year and the year before I personally
attended at the Infirmary and was most
courteously afforded every opportunity of verifying
these returns, but I found on both occasions
that they were by no means accurate, and
indeed were not at all to be relied upon.
There seems to be no sufficient record kept
there of the addresses where these people
previously lived, or even in some instances
where they were removed from, and in some
cases merely the addresses of relatives who
would have to be communicated with for
purpose of notification of death. In many
doubtful cases the correct address, I was informed,
could have been obtained from the
Relieving Officers, but it is no part of their
duty to forward this information to the various
Medical Officers of Health, nor is it any part
of the duty of the Infirmary Authorities nor of
the Borough Medical Officer of Health, but it is
obvious that if, on the one hand, we are
required to swell our mortality returns by the
addition of this considerable number of deaths,
we should, on the other, feel assured that the
returns were accurate and reliable.
If these returns are to be included in the
future—and they should be rendered monthly,
not annually—some machinery must be devised
for checking, correcting and forwarding,
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