600 The Public Health. [Oct., 



nuisance they reported to the officer of health, and legal steps were 

 then taken, if necessary, to remove the nuisance, but there was no 

 imperial authority in sanitary matters. 



On Friday the question submitted for discussion was, " In 

 what respects do the Registration Systems of England, Ireland, and 

 Scotland need improvement, and is it desirable they should be 

 assimilated?" This question was opened by an excellent paper 

 from Dr. Arthur Kansome, of Manchester. After alluding to the 

 system of registration of births and deaths, and the census-returns 

 of the Eegistrar-Greneral, he pointed out the uncertainty of the 

 results, as far as life and health were concerned, founded upon such 

 data. He dwelt more particularly on the disturbing elements of 

 immigration and emigration in the large towns of England and in 

 counties, the importation of cattle increasing largely the death- 

 rate of some districts. He suggested that, hi addition to the in- 

 formation already obtained, the duration of the residence of the per- 

 sons in the district in which they died should be recorded. He pointed 

 out that in England neither the registration of births nor that of 

 deaths was compulsory, and showed the unsatisfactory nature of 

 the returns of causes of death obtained by voluntary means. He 

 urged also the necessity of registering the births of still-born children, 

 as crime might be extensively committed under the present system. 

 He concluded by recommending that a registration medical officer 

 should be appointed in each superintendent-registrar's district, 

 whose duty it should be to verify death, who also might be the 

 medical officer of health and the assessor in the coroner's court. 

 Dr. Lankester gave some reasons for thinking it would be an 

 especial advantage in the coroner's court to have as an assessor a 

 person specially educated, whose duty it should especially be to 

 conduct post-mortem examinations, and report upon them to the 

 coroner and jury. Mr. Cengenven spoke of the defective registra- 

 tion of the births of illegitimate children, and stated as the result of 

 his own inquiries that only 46 out of 140 illegitimate children were 

 registered. He thought if a certificate of birth could be required 

 before a burial- warrant was granted, that it might induce a larger 

 number of registration of births. 



Dr. McCrae, the Kegistrar of Belfast, stated that the poor 

 registered the birth of their children more regularly than they did 

 their death. He stated that in the Irish Eegistration Act there 

 was no connection between the death and the burial, and the burial- 

 warrant was not granted as the result of the registration of the 

 death. The death was required to be registered within seven days, 

 and the Kegistrar had power to demand a certificate, but many 

 persons were buried, especially in country districts, without any 

 registration or burial- warrant at all. Captain Clode, of the General 

 Eegistrar's Office in London, stated that the causes of death were 



