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72
The Act requires that the Council shall bring the provisions of
this Act to the attention of all parents residing, and ail medical
practitioners and midwives practising in their area.
The Act provides that in the case of every child born it shall be
the duty of the father of the child, if he is actually residing in the
house where the birth takes place at the time of its occurrence, and
of 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
was born. Notice is to be given by delivering or posting a prepaid
letter or postcard addressed to the Medical Officer of Health at his
office at the Town Hall, giving information of the birth within thirtysix
hours after such birth.
The Borough Council are required to supply, without chargeaddressed
and stamped post or letter cards containing the form of
notice to any medical practitioner or midwife residing or practising
in their area who applies for the same. Any person who fails to give
notice of the birth within the period named, will be liable, on
summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding twenty shillings.
This notice is to be in addition to, and not in substitution for, the
ordinary registration of births, and it applies to any child born,
whether alive or dead, after the expiration of the twenty-eighth
week of pregnancy.
It is very desirable that the provisions of this Act be made
widely known, and I shall be glad if everyone will assist me in this
matter as far as possible.
Forms for giving notice of births may be obtained on application
at the Public Health Office.
Yours faithfully,
G. B. Millson,
Medical Officer of Health.