§ DR. CAMERON (Glasgow, College)asked the secretary of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the fact that according to the last Report of the Registrar General 17,465 deaths occurred in England and Wales during 1887, where the cause of death was not certified by any medical attendant or coroners' inquiry; and whether, taking that fact into consideration, Government will consent to the appointment of a Select 783 Committee to inquire into the efficiency of the existing law as to the disposal of the dead, for securing an accurate record of the causes of death in all cases, and especially for detecting them where death may have been due to poison, violence, or criminal neglect.
§ MR. LONGThe proportion of deaths, where the cause of death is not certified by any medical attendant or coroner's inquiry, is steadily declining. In 1879 the proportion was 4.7 per cent, while in 1887 it was only 3.3 per cent. The proportion varies from 0.8 per cent in Middlesex (extra metropolitan) to 5.7 in Dublin, and 7.4 in Wales. The Registrar General informs me that the uncertified causes of death (including a considerable majority of cases of infants and young children) may be generally sub-divided into two classes—(1)the cases in which the deceased person has had no medical attendance during his last illness; and (2) the eases in which the attendance has been by an unqualified or unregistered practitioner. As regards the first class of cases, they are most numerous in the sparsely populated districts, where distance places a natural obstacle in the way of procuring medical attendance. The second class of cases may be subdivided. In some instances an unregistered practitioner is working on his own account, in others he is acting as the assistant or quasi partner of a registered practitioner, and in others the practitioner may be duly qualified, but either he is unregistered or has been removed from the register. The Registrar-General has good reason to know that a very large proportion of the cases of uncertified deaths are reported by registrars to coroners prior to their registration, although these officers, in the exercise of their discretion, decide that it is unnecessary to hold inquests. I cannot say that I think the circumstances are such as to require the appointment of a Select Committee as suggested.
§ DR. CAMERONI beg to give notice that on the earliest opportunity I shall call attention to the subject, and move a Resolution upon it.