The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-26 00:00:00

700 RESI'LTS OF THE CENSUS. RITEATEII, as a matter of cour4e, every ten years. the task of "numbering the people" in the United King dom becomes upon every repetition more laborious, and its results accumulate in more complicated and ponderous masses ; for not only do the numbers to be reckoned rapidly expand at the rate of more than two million units . between one census date and another, but the combinations and classifications into which those units are united or distributed become more various and minute as experience shows them to be necessary, or 144 the public grow interested and exigeant in the matter of statistical science. Both causes combined have rendered the census returns compiled in 1P451 far inure magnitieent in proportions than any of their predecessors. Their vaned details are, of course, correspondingly valua ble, though the nn value is not to be appreciated just yet. Their chief use will be disclosed hereafter, when the social politician comes to build upon the foundation of facts which he will find in these tables the practical laws whereby industry is to be encou raged, crime repressed, or education extended. Or, at a still more remote era, when half a dozen de cennial periods have run their course and furnished their similar returns, the future historian of England will turn them to a yet grander purpose, as the means of comparison by which to trace the growth and pro gress of the British empire and its inhabitants — their expansion of numbers, their changes in loca lity, occupation, and social habitudes, their im 'movement in mo ral, mental, and physical condition— all the modifications, in short, which a people undergo by process of time, and which, under the general denomination of "social status," represent the moat important and most exalted particulars that ran ever occupy the pages of history. lint the present interest of these enumeration tables is far from insignificant. IVithout purposing to draw up a bill in Parliament, or draw out a new scheme for the philosophy of history, there are a multitude of facts bearing a very near relationship to our present well-being, or innnediately-future pros pects of comfort and prosperity, to be gathered from this ntultitudinotts array of figures, well deserv ing our serious contemplation. Some of these re sults we will now lay before our readers, culling them for that purpose from a highly valuable pamphlet lately published by Mr. Cheshire, a member of the Statistical Society, and one of the secretaries to the statistical section of the British Association. Into this pamphlet, by a laborious process of selection and condensation, the author has succeeded in packing all the most important totals, averages, and compa rative schedules from which the eensus tables derive their principal features of interest. First, however, we must endeavour to give sonic idea of the magni tude in simple bulk of printed matter of the work upon which the winnowing process has to be exer cised, and which, we may remark, is, after all, only portion of the entire mass of " returns " growing out of the census of " Three thick folio volumes," says Mr. Cheshire, "containing some two thousand pages of einidensed and analysed matter sufficiently attest the labours of the Registrar-General and his able assistants; but the folios must be studied in order adequately to appreciate the amount of thought required to carry a census into effect, and to embody the results in a book of such magnittulo and in t vein." 11e have not space to cite the interesting detail given by the author of the machinery by which the raw material for these "three thick folio volumes" was originally prepared. It may suffice to state that the whole surface of Great Britain and its islands was divided into 3t4,74.0 "districts" for the purposes of enumeration, to caulk of which a separate Minnie rator was appointed; with some additional force e in. ploy 4.4 to reckon up the individuals engaged on board ship, on canals, in harbours, or in any way non-resident at the flatulent selected for the enumeration upon terra firma. Every one of these enumerators was required to take the " state of the poll " in his own district upon the same preordained night. For this purpose seven million " house holders' schedules." OA they were called, were trans mitted through their hands to the heads of every household in Great Ilritain, and were collected again, when tilled up, on the morrow of the appointed day. 'the mere weight of paper thus employed, including the enumerators' books, was not less than 5•2 tons. Two weeks were spent by the 35,7-10 enumerotrs ill transcribing the returns. which then passed into the hands 0f3,210 registrars, by whom some further time was devoted to a rough revision and summary of their contents. From them the papers were transferred to Ott superintendent registrars, who revised the re visions and summarised the summaries. Two months after the census day the whole mass got as far as the central census-office, then comprising the 4,3410,000 district householders returns, the 3/4,l'4ti enumeration books, the 3,220 first and the (24 second summaries. Altogether there was a pretty total ut . some 10 millions of entries, tilling ups arils of 1 million pages of manuscript hooks. Every one of these entries wits afresh examined, checked, re- THE PRESS. vised, and totalled, before its product was allowed a place in the "three folios." This gigantic operation took two years to complete. A rough-and-ready general total was, indeed, published very shortly after the day of enumeration, just to let John Bull know the exact size of his family; but the prepared and abstracted returns did not make their appearance until an advanced period of the session lately closed. We must now, however, let Mr. Cheshire set forth SOWe of the results of his analysis. Of the " Gross Population " he states '"Ilso number of people in Great Britain and the small adjacent islands in Issl was 211,9511,477 ; and the men in the army, navy, and merchant service, and East India Conspany's service, abroad, on the plumage out, or round the coasts. belonging to Breat Britain. amounted, on the same slay, to 101,490. The isopsibiti 111 l of Great Britain may, therefore, i.e set down at twenty-one millions. one hundred and twenty-one thousand, nine hundred and sixty-seven (21,111,907 • • • • ' The number sit the male popnlati 111 l of 4 irent Britain, excluding those absent in foreign countries, was 10,154,;14M, and the female population 10,735,019; consequently th e females were in excess of the males by 512,301. " The births during the last thirteen years give a reversed proportion, viz., 105 boys to 100 girls. flow !II the change in the proportions, and the subsequent disparity of the numbers in the two sexes, is sine to emigratism, CO' to a difference in the degree of the dangers; and diseases to which they are respectively exposed, will be discussed when the numbers of modes and females living at ditb.reist revisals of life are compared. The disparity in the propor t. of the sexes is greatest in Scotland, there being no leas than 110 females to 100 mules in that eountry. • • The population of heat Britain has nearly doubled since the commeneement of the present century, notwith standing the great number that have at 1111 l ally lett the country, and settled and multiplied into millions in the United States in the colonies of North America, Australia , and South Africa. The increase in the last tiny years has been 1017 pet cent., or at the rate of 1•319 ioer cent. annu• silly, the increase of each sex being about equal. " flue annual rats. of in has varied in ea c h decen nial period : lima, in 1841-41 the population has increased, but the rats. of increase has declined, chiefly from acce lerated emigration. " The emigration from the United Kingdom in the ten years 11411-31 was 211,317; in the ten years 153141 it t 1111.1111114411 t.. 717,013 ; and in the ten years 1541.51 it had increased to 1,003,510." Respecting the " Law of Population " we arc told : " The increase or tb•crense of a people depend upon the age of mari•iage, the age of parents when children are Isom, the hers who marry, tile fertility of the niarriagea, the duration of lite, and the activity of the migration flow ing into or out of the country. These influences act more or It•ss upon each 101 A% " The ill MINTS o f t h e 11010 dal( in bear a definite relation to the deratit ot' life, or to the mean lifetime. Thus, if the 1114411 lifetitllf. of It 1101111111 f is thirty years, then if the 'Mills are 1(141,4100 a year, and remain uniform. the popithif will :ill times lIHMSSI, N ow , the births remaining the same, let the lifetime he gradually extended to forty years, then the populat' will become -1,000.1100 : if the lifetime is extended to fitly years, the population. from the extension of lik• alone, will rise from three to live millions. The deaths, upon this by will he equal to the births, and the saute in number when the po p ulation is live as when it is f •or HIM` p Millions. It is probable that the mean lifetime of the great botdy of the popidation did increase from th e year INOI to Pill, when the increase of population was greatest in Great Britain. " The interval front the birth of one generation to the birth of their descendants ttl the generation fttil o wing beam also a definite WI/116M to the MaillberS, which in• crease as the interval is shortened. Thus, it' the population hie reiglieli at the rate of 1'319 auuuohly, and it' the inter %ening time front generation to geut•ration id 831 years, it follows that the inerease fi•om generation to generation is fifty-five tar cent., or that every I,lsittwomen are succeeded, at the interval of :1:Ik yearn, by 1,5:13 women ; every two couples• male and female, by thaw. If the interval is con tracted, mitt the increase from 1,114/0 to takes place in thirty years, the mutual rate of population increases from 111111 to 1 . 411 per cent.; and as we assume by hypo. tht.sis that the births and the lifetime remain the same, the population weld.' be ultimately one. • th part more numerous titan it was under the former conditions. Early marriages have the effect of shortening the interval between gill. rations, and tend in this way tom c.rrase the population." l'pon the interesting subject of households, and the average number of inhabitants to every dwelling, Mr. Cheshire remarks : *"flie possession of an entire honse in strangle desired by every Englirilnuan. This feeling is universal, but stronger in England than on the Continent. The erowding of the initiclie a n d higher thisto.s, who sleep in Bats, is ealeied to at great execss ill the capitals on the C on ti ne nt. 'floc ilepetrtiniait Of the Stills'. Guy nestallre'. iii 114:14, had, on an average, twentrtwo persons tie a hong.. : whilst is densely.poptiltited I.onalon. in there were barely eight persons to a h o use. • • • • " The number of inhabited houses in Great Britain lies nearly 'budded in the last half century, and upwards tif two n illisat new fitniiiiry 114tVe• 14441 100111144 A ; the num• her of is•rsons t4l a house hare increased tram :elf to :i1; eousequently the increase in the umniter of h o u s es hog nut quite kept pace with the inerease in the population. The inert ase in the number of persons to a family, in the tonne period, has been from to 4 14 . The number of families to a lionise varied eonsiderably in ditferent cumitit.s. and it is difficult to account for all SATURDAY, the anomalies they present. In Essex, Suffolk, and *Nor folk few houses contained more than one fatality. ply. mouth and the adjacent districts had more than tw o families, together averaging ten persons, to a house. In iVurcesterahire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Hereford. shire, Shropshire, and Staffordshire, a large proportion of the people lived in separate houses, with the exception o f Bristol, Clifton, Gloucester, Hereford, and Birmingham. In the counties of Leicester, Rutland, Lincoln, Notting ham, Derby, and Yorkshire, nearly all the families lived in separate houses, the city of York and Hull being scarcely exceptional eases to the rule. In Lancashire and Cheshir e more than :OMNI° out of 471,907 families lived in separate Masses. Liverpool, Bolton, Manchester, and Salford were the chief places where two or more families iu many cases occupied the same house. In the northern division of Englund, comprising Cumberland, Northumberland, ham, and Westmorland, the pmportional timber of Coun ties and persons to a house increased." " Cities and Towns " "In Pei I 6 neat Britain contained slri towns of various magnitudes, either market towns, county towns, or cities ; tirat were in England and Wales, •21,:i in Scotland, and In in the Channel Islands. The population of these 141. i t o wn s was 10,556,168 ; the population in the rest of Ureat Britain was 1003,110 ; consequently, if detached houses, yillagi s, and ninon towns without markets, are called country, the town and country populations of tireat Britain may he considered equal. The density in the country was No persons to the square mile ; in the towns. 4,337. or about twenty-eight times as ninny. " T se average population of each town in England and W a d e s was 1:,,:i01; of each town in Scotland, only less than a halt' that of the English town. The a% erne ground-area of the English town is 1 three-tifth miles, and fiams the centre of an area of 101 square miles." Of the " Density of I'opulatiou " : " The 021 districts of England and Wales, classed in an order of density, range from 1N5,751 persons to the square mile, in the east London district, to eighteen only in Northumberland. In all London. the number of persons to a square mile, in Issl, was 111,375. In INOI, the people of England were on an average 15si yards asunder; in IN4I, only IoN yards asunder. The mean distance between their houses in 1801 was 302 yards; in It+sl, only 2t02 yards. In London, the aserage proximity in IN►l was 11 yards; in only 14 yards.' And of " Absentees " : The number of persons absent from Great Britain and Ireland ou the night of the census was about a quarter of a million. viz., army, navv, uterine and merchant service, belonging to Great Britain, 162,490; belonging to Ireland, 49,704 ; and British subjects resident or travelling in foreign e oumnes, 33,775. The latter were distributed as follows :—France, 20,357 ; Belgium, 3,Pc2s ; Russia, 2,753; Two Sicilies, 1.414 ; Turkey, 1,235 ; Sardinian States, 1,4109 ; Greece. 1,068; Mexico, 755; China, 64t) : Saxony, 311 ; Alexandria, 155 ; Cairo, S 5 ; Persia, 33 ; Tripoli, 23." We have said that the present bulky reports con tain but a portion of the abstracts of population. They are drawn, in fact, but from a moiety of the original " entries " obtained by the enumerators. The remaining half of the twenty million totals re late to other topics, and will be analysed, grouped, and abstracted into a second series of reports, whose appearance may be expected some time next year. In these supplemental volumes, we are informed, " the ages of the population will he given, their condition and occupations. As regards age, they will lw arranged in quinquennial sections, that is, in seetions advancing by periods of five rears each, from children in arms to the age of ninety and upwards. The people will tl►en be classed iu sections, ns lmshands, wives, widowers, widows, LucLe lo►v, 141141 spinsters ; again, they will be grouped, first, according to place of residence, and, subsequently, under the counties and countries in which they were born ; and, finally, they will be arranged in professions or ocenpations, from the prince to the peasant : paupers, prisoners, In- Indies, and vagrants, being severally grouped. The survey will extend over thousands in Inure than a thousand differ ent callings." THE MORTALITY OF' THE METROPOLIS for last week shows but a small reduction on the previotts return, which was rather high. In the week that ended on the 19th, the number of deaths registered in London was 1,102. In the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1543-52 the average number was 1,028, which, if raised in proportion to increase of population, be comes 1,125. Therefore, the actual mortality some what exceeded the estimated amount. It is satisfac tory to perceive that the mortality from cholera was not so great as in the four previous weeks, the num ber of deaths having fallen to 12, while that from diarrhoea was only 80. In the three weeks of November cholera has carried off 102, t#4, and persons. The mean weekly temperature, which rose so high as 55.5 in the last week of October, declined in the two subsequent weeks to 4 , 4.9 deg. and 45.; deg., and last week fell so low as 3$ deg. Of last week's deaths from cholera 5 occurred iu the west districts, 11 in the north, 3 in the central, 20 in the east, and 33 in the districts on the south side of the river. THE 'WARD OF Wonks Ast) Bt LDINUS purpose to obtain powers for the formation of the long-contem plated new street from Chancery-lane to Fetter-lane, and to widen Carey-street from the corner of Bell yard to Chancery lane, in the line of the proposed s treet.