TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 219 



"INFORMATION to be supplied before tlie Registration of the Bibth of the 

 alleg^ed Illegitimate Child of a Married Woman. 



1. Date of Birth 



2. Christian and Maiden Name of Mother 



3. Name and Designation of her Husband 



4. Date and Place of their Marriage , . 

 6. Where did they respectively reside be- 

 fore Marriage ? 



6. Are they still residing together? If 



not, when did they cease to do so ? 



7. Where have they respectively resided 



since that date ? 



8. Have they had any personal communi- 



cation since the date of their ceasing 

 to reside together, and if so, when 



and where ? 



0. Does the Husband concm* with the 

 Child's Mother in her statement as 



to its illegitimacy ? 



10. Is the Paternity of the Child to be ac- 

 knowledged by anjy other Person, in 

 terms of the 35th Section of the ori- 

 ginal Registration Act ? If so, state 

 his Name and Designation .... 



I HEREBY CERTIFY that the above Information has been supplied to me, as 



Registrar of the Parish (or District) of , 



in which the Birth occurred, by* 



Registrar. 



Date_ 



" The directions as to the form of the relative entry depend, of course, upon the 

 answers supplied; but in the majority of the cases submitted for consideration, 

 where the statement clearly indicates the impossibility of the husband being the 

 father, the child is described, in the first column of the Register, by its mother's 

 maiden and married surnames alternately, without the addition of the word ' ille- 

 gitimate,' while in column four, the name of the husband, and the date and place 

 of marriage are omitted, and the mother thus described : — ' Mary Brown, wife of 

 David Wilson, shoemaker, wlio she (the informant) declares is not the father of the 

 child, and further that she has not seen her husband for upwards of (say) two 

 years.' Such an entry, no doubt, affords prima facie evidence of the child's ille- 

 gitimacy, and at a distant period it would probaljly be somewhat difficult to over- 

 come the presumption. On the other hand, however, the circumstantial statement 

 in column 4 distinctly shows that the child was born in wedlock, its alleged illegi- 

 timacy being registered on the information of its own mother ; and such informa- 

 tion being tendered ' to the best of her knowledge and belief.' If, however, the 

 circumstances are such as to indicate opportunity of access to the husband, or 

 otherwise suggest a presumption in favour of the child's legitimacy, the Registrar 

 is instructed to record the birth as legitimate in the ordinary way, even in the face 

 of the mother's assertion to the contrary ; and if the husband, or any other in- 

 terested party, should feel aggrieved by the form of the entry, he is, of course, 

 entitled to take steps for its correction, in terms of the statutory provisions." 



* As a general rule, most of the information will be furnished by the child's mother. 



