Thankyou Ada,what wonderful info. I think he might have been born out of this country. Friends of ours didn't name their child for over 3 months. They just called her Poo Bear. I really must ask my aunt. Cheers Chris > Hello listers, > > Problem was, if you missed one child, that carried a fine... if you > missed 2, a second fine... if you left off the child/chn not registered > when you registered later chn, that was perjury. The fine was ten pounds > per non-registration, perjury brought a jail term. > > They initially 1853-1864 had 15 days to register. Owners of houses in > which a birth took place had 15 days to inform the deputy registrar of > the district fine ten pounds if found to have neglected to do so., and > if the parent had a good reason (wife and child gravely ill, etc) then > an application had to be accompanied by a solemn declaration. Any > attempt after 60 days, without the declaration, a further fine of five > pounds, and if an attempt to register after 12 months, another five > pounds fine. > > And the law stated "After 60 days it shall not be lawful for the Deputy > Registrar or the Chief Registrar to register the birth." Did this mean > that, even though you paid the fines, if more than 60 days had passed, > you paid, but still the child was not registered? > > I reckon lots of tardy parents registered their young children out of > their district and claimed "recently born" though possibly 6-12 months > old... I reckon you could do that if the child was "not present" as it > says on the certificate if only the parent fronts up to register. > > And then, according to cases in the Supreme Court after 1899, when a > child could gain "late registration with a baptismal certificate or a > stat dec from a nurse, doctor, etc" many a child was not registered > because the parents wanted to evade compulsory vaccination (from 1855) > for smallpox. > > After June 1865 the time to register was extended to 60 days, and a > declaration up to 12 months, but still with the same fines. Then in 1890 > late registration after 12 months but within seven years was allowed.. > until the above 1899 Act which gave no time frame, but insisted on a > court appearance.. either the County or the Supreme Court. > > I wrote a long article "Unregistered Births in Victoria" for the AIGS > magazine "The Genealogist" in December 1988, it is worth reading, based > on law and applications to the Supreme court 1899-1922. > > Late registrations showed were filed in the birth year, at the ends of > the lists, and carried an "X" and then the year the late registration > was granted, so "24689X1918" would have been normalized retrospectively > in 1918 after the court application and approval. > > Hope that's of interest > > Regards Ada Ackerly > > Julie N wrote: >> Hi Chris >> I have found in my family 3 children out of 8 are not on the Pioneer >> Index. >> 4 out of 8 children on another family,its not until you look on the death >> cd is when they turn up. >> >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message