The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

1. , " NOVEMBER 5,1853. according to the importance and magnitude of the several industries, our claims will be most assuredly underrated. These statistics would obtain for us justice in this respeet —they would show that the contribution of the foreigner to the subsistence of this country is as nothing when compared to that furnished by us. They would prove that, instead of being a backward unenterprising race, bigoted to ancient practices, and incapable of improvement, we were bringing every year more and inure acres into cultivation, and that we were every year investing more capital, how• ever small might be the profit we derived from it. " They would place the small farmer wore upon an equality with the great dealer on the Coen Exchange. " They would further give to the trade such accurate information as would diminish the danger of those fatal speculations which ransack the world for corn under mil.e taken anticipations of scarcity, and bring ruin upon all engaged. Actuated by these impressions, I have long desired that we should be put upon an equality with the other great industries of the country, and 1 have done Inv best at all timer to induce the governments of the a bl y t o advance the money requisite for the experiment which is now before you. " I should athl that our Scotch neighbours, who are shrewd enough to detect what is and what is not for th e ir advantage, have made their returns without hesitation. " A still more searching return has been now made for two ”sars from Ireland, without complaint on the part of the tenantry, who are am quick to perceive as they are Willful to show up a grievance." THE HEALTH AND MORALS OF THE ARMY. Sour curious and important information regarding the condition of the British soldier has just appeared in a blue book. The volume is intended to form a continuation to some previous reports on the same subject issued between Is3s anti 1841. It has been compiled by Lieut.-C(4.1'1%110A, Military Superinten dent of Pensioners, and Br. Graham Balfour, M.D. The return purports to convey a variety of statistical returns Vouching "sickness and mortality among the troops" since the period included in previous reports on the subject, namely, IsB7 : The present document commences by alluding to the improvements which have b een made during that time. The god-conduct warrant was introduced in 1837, by which a progressive increase of pay was made dependent on the absence of any serirus crime or irregularity fur a period of two years. Notwithstanding the strictness of the regulations, the augmentation had been received by 14,090 soldieta out of 33,1NN1 who might have laid el • to it ; and it was thus apparent that a powerful motive to good conduct which did not previously exist had been held out by this change. Barrack litanies, which in 1847 con tained 811,01klyoltunes, had been established ; and ball and racket courts had been erected in most of the bamicks, with a view to wean men from the habit of %pending their time in the canteens. Greater attention had also been paid to the ventilation and the general sanitary arrange inenta of their dwellings. lu 19.443 savings banks were established, and by 1847 upwards of ropot. h a d been deposited—au amount which had since been doubled. The changes which had taken place with respect to free ills charges and limited enlistment are stated also to have a very important bearing upon the monde of the army, and would lead to the exclusion of all that class who from in temperance and misconduct were construit subjects of pumahment and hospital treatment. The average number of admissions to the hospital in the Dragoons and Dragoon Guards throughout the king dom during ten years, from 1837 to 1837, had been SKI per thousand per annum. During the preceding 'WWII and a half years the proportion was 9 . 2.9 per thoumand ; but the apparent increase was probably due to the greater care which had been taken to obtain correct returns. At all events, the ratio of death had bcen rather 114.1.. In the former period the late was 14 per thousand , or deduct lug IA for the deaths from cholera, which slid not prevail between 1837 and 1847, the corrected average would be 11.8. The rate tinting the ten years in question wow 11.4. The deaths foam other causes than disease. were 1.2 per thousand, being the exact proportion in the former period. The total mortality had therefore been 13.6 per thousand of the mean strength, or 1.7 per thousand more than is mural amongst a town population at the same period of life—"no very great difference certainly, but still sufficient to show that, even in time of peace, the profession of a soldier is not conducive to health." The rate of mortality of the whole cavalry corps serving in Great Britain had ht.en 13. ts per thonsand ; hut that in Ireland had lees only 11.6 ; being a difference in favour of the latter, but too $lllllll in am 11111 l t to warrant ally c onclusions as to the sills .. riur salubrity of that c try." There had been a consi derable increase in the diseases resulting from immorality. During the six years previous to 1837 the average number of admissions to the hospital had been 181 per year per thousand; whereas during the ten years under notice the proportion had risen to WO per thousand. In the foot regiments the returns exhibited yet more ilisgrareful re sults—the number% lowing been 206 and 177. The num lwr in the Foot Guards had been 2:01; the number in the nonsehold Cavalry not being reported. The total mortality 44 the infantry regiments had been 17.9, ar 4.3 per thousand greater than the cavalry; a simi lar excess being invariably noticed not only at all our home and colonial stations, but in the French and other isreim armies. The mortality of the Foot Guards was actually so high as 19.4. This was attributed in great part to thc improper barrack aecommodation, inasmuch as other regiments in London had suffi.red still mote. The number of men admitted into hospital for all dis ea-ww, per thousand per year, had been :—at the Towo, tC)::,; Portman Barracks, SO7 ; Wellington Bar- THE PRESS. racks, V 49; St. deorge's Barracks, 788 ; the detached barracks, ;SA ; Windsor, 937 ; and Winchester, St.l3. 'the ratio in the regiments of the line stationed at the 'Cower was, however, as high as 1.093. Fevers anti pulmonary disc asps h,ul liven peculiarly prevalent at the Tower--the tinkportion of men who had died from the firmer cause having been at the Tower as high as 1.1 : at the Portman Itarraeks, 2.1; Wellington ditto, 1.6; St. tivorge'e, 1.1; detached barracks, I.s; Windsor, 1.8 ; and W i nchester, 1.9. Recent alteratiousk had been made iu the 'lower, Hyde-park, Kensington. and Portman Biu-raeke which it was hoped would produce a marked improvement in the health of the troops. 'l' lie number of deaths in the House hold Cavalry had been only 11.1 ; but these moist taw twssed many ativatitat.tes over every other in the service, and there were greater facilities of discharging men who were guilty of irregular conduct, or who developed tracer of constitutional slimes-ow. The total number of men who 11041 stable.' etirisiral punisl lit during the tell yeant had been :—ltragoinis and I b itgot Ilan's, I ; (Wards, 10; Infiniti" . of the line, ids ; showing the billowing ratios la" thousand per year :—llragotitts and Dragoon I itiards, t. 4 ; root tkuards, I : Infantry of the line, I.M. The gradual reduc tion had been very striking. The proportion per thou sand sentenced to coqiiiral pimisl .Ikt in IM E: was 10.1; 5.:1; Iµll, 7a; Is4l, 7.3 : 181.1, ; 1 ,4 44, ; 1 8 4:0; A.l ; 1 8 10, 1.1. In IS:11. the Mali ttttttt lOf lashes in• dieted was 51N1; ill Is:13, ts 011; 18:1I, IWO; WI, 5110; 18311, 400; 1s:17, 1(10. After IS:10 no higher number could Ike 10111r41.41. (Will by a general court-martial. than 100 ; while a tlistriet court-martial WON l • •rd to III), and a regimen• tal one to MO. Sittee 1547 the maximum has been n.. stricted to MI lashes. In 1539 101.1 of every thousand men Were tried by court-martial, and '1.:1 sentenced to trinispor kaiion :in 04.10 the ratio tried was 11. S, a n d the number Wllll'llo4 to transportation only 0.9. Aecooling to an oni• cis! n.turn it appeared that in IM:11 the number of men tried lay court-martial in the French army was only per tl sand. In that year the proport . in the English army was 11.0. It appeared, however, that drunkenness, whether habitual air oecitsi tttt al, was not liable to be triad in France, sop that one-third must Ike deducted from the Eng lish trials before any etimparisialk 0111 be made. That would leave the relative proportion of crime in the two omits as IS to Ott; but in tin' h'rencli army It 'rampant tively small proptai• was tranintitted by the class of eon scripts whose service was compulsory, Knit who, being sleeted by hut from the general mass of the people, mete superior in respect of etnitlitet and MAC to those who enlisted voluntarily. NIA who Well` Of less settled anti leas prudent habits. Indeed. of the total ikunklwr of crimea, uo fewer than MI Is'r tl sand were et ttttt nitted by the tinily -enlisted meu, and 1.2 only by the conscripts. " Thu Withal Nrllly, “ continue tilt' 1111t1101TI of till' 101110•11 t hOsik, being runlls , sed entirely of 111111 Vs 41110111'4 Cll• listed, and who are usually l. thouglitlesa and impru dent than the general mass of the c • y, the comp'. risen as regards crime must Ire le with the same class in the French army, in which ease the results would ap proximate as nearly as 50 to 00; and the slight execite of crime still apparent in the It army it no a than may be readily ace tell for by the circumstance, that, us the greater proportion of the otiose.% have their origin in dflukkeistkess, they are likely to be most frequent among a 1101111C111 Mei', who ILIC, ittifortituatEly, proms to that vice." Finally, the ratios of mortality in different ikrukivs, as far as they could be Nrl.'l'l'Nlllyd, W4`l'l. us fOIIOWN :—Prussian army, 1:1.I : United States (Northern division), 18.8; Frenelk, 19 ; Intl' (exclusive of meta killed in action ), M; Kingdom, 1:05. THE El ECTIiIC ELEGRAPH IN INDIA. Pltt:PAltotTtooNS for the eionstruetioM of the electric to legnipla from l'itleinta to Lahore, with Nanette% eventuidly to Imeknow and Militia, are now in souse progress. Mate riala for It MOO stilt's have already reached A16110)041, from whence they will have been fooraarded la , looro the end of this nu th in the different depOtm ailing the line. The telegraph, at first, is to be put tip in a temporary manner on bamboos or wooden posts. The line is to prooereol from ealentta 1.% the ritual Trunk road to a point oppositeßemires. Bemires. where it will either cross the lianges to that place and roma. along the Trunk road to Allaliabrul, with a branch to Mirzapore, or it will continue along the right bank of the t :tinges throotigh Nlirrapore, and cross the olunina to Allahal.ad with a branch to Ilentirem. Froon Allaliabad the line will pursue its o nward comrso. to ('awn ore, liolagoona, Agroo. Ally glom, Meerut, !Delhi, Lotoolianah, .11111itialer. I 'wit sir, and Lahore', the whole' olio•tanno being 1.10.40 inilew—that is, from Calming to Alla. Itabaol. 491; thence to Agra. Agra to I tellii, riff Nltoontt, IMO; and front that City to toilaire, From Agra there will be a branch to lloontiony re/ Ititloore, fur which more than :1:10 miles of wire have been forwarded; the real will be supplied from Bombay. '''lie' eseetitive officers of the brand Timik roan' hare beets instructed to and meet bamboo,. and posts along the foot of the slope of the road, lto distribute the wire (ruin the depicts along the roads at the travellers' bungalows or Chokees. The bamboo% ar' to I.' placed at :dl a nd the posts at WI fool apart. It is expected that each working tarty will be able to complete ail miles of the 111ing telegraph daily. The wire to be used is of three descriptions--one a copper Sire almost ono-twentieth of an inch in diameter, covered with gents po.i elm, in order to be sunk beneath the 1111 l lin the neighbourhood of towns and villages ; u summit of the same kind. but co vered with sheet lead in addition, fur crossing riven.; the third fi nd p f incipal, galvanised iron nal. aoptarter of an inch in diameter, for the 'owl side. Half a ton of this last iv re• 'mired fur a mile, and it is in coils a opinrter of a mile long. th, wire is of a lunch higher gauge than is used for tele graphs in Europe ; but there is a certaiu liability to aeci 631 dents peculiar to this country which has rendered its adoption necessary. lts strength was tested in England, and when stretched in a horizontal position it how the weight of a man sus. pentled from it—so that it cannot ho injured by heavy Liras sitting on it, or even hv a blow from a latee. It will be stretched over t•CIVW piles fourteen feet high. This unusual height is requisite to provide against tisk of damage from laden elephant. or camels cstrying their loads snider it. The ends of the wire are flattened. anti they will be joined together pouring on them an ingot of melted sine, shun they are brought into a proper position for the purpose. 'rhe estimated expense of the telegraph i. :101. a 111111C.—Priho Gazelle. 6.011.1 lti Tim Auctic ItEtillONS. MR. HENRY MARSHiI.f., of Thorpe hall (in a letter to the Morning ►lerald), has fttruished an interesting s t a tement in the form of a return of the quantity of game, &-c., killed in the Arctic reg . by Captain \l•t'lnre, Lieut. Cromwell, and a portion of the crew of her Majesty's ship the Investigator, when disco vering the north-west passage, in searelt of sir .10ha Franklin. 'Fite return extends from the Ist of Oc tober, Isso, to the nth of April, 15:53, although the principal part was killed during the spring of this year : Numer Linea. Avorsge weight ew.•i. Munk Ox 1 leer !Isms Wombs 1 bias lOO l‘t.r.r IN* i4ves lieors l'otal bead killed .... 1,003 • 0111 informed (says Mr. Marshall) by eaptain Ha milton that the size of the musk to s varied consider. ably, but the deer that were killed did not vary in size so much. The deer were found to b e ve ry f a t, although their principal food merely consisted of the herbage which was obtained trout a small tree called the dwarf willow. As the crew only kept as it were on the rides of the sea, no other food was observable, but there is no doubt the deer found an abu n dance of food further up the country. They were very wild, mid the gunner.' haul to display great precau tion in shooting them. The manner in which the crew got within gunshot was this. Th e y see m e d th e mselves in various parts of the ravines, or behind the sandbills, and listened with breatlibsoi silence until they heard the deer tap the snow otf the willow with their feet in order to eat the herbage. When the air was frosty and the weather calm, this tapping could be heard at a distance or about, WO yards, and, by listening and observing minutely, the gunner easily detected the position in which lain prey was located. As /WM as this was correctly aseertanitsl Is tenant was sent a considerable distance round the deer, and a slight noise having been made at their back they immediately ran otf—probably !past the gunner. It was in such instances where the chances of "a kill" occurred. One hundred anal ten ulcer were thus killed, and, as they will run long distances after receiving wounds, it is fair to impress that many more would have been secured if the crew had been accompanied with a brace or more of deer hounds. The grouse, 1 was informed, were not no wild as might have been expected; hut the wild fowl wen/ somewhat wilder than tl►ose usually found in Ireland and Scotland. The musk ox was found IA) ho a very ferocious ani mal, and great danger necessarily atten►!ed the at. tacks. They were easily approached, and when wounded they ran headlong at the gunner. One of the crew had a very narrow escape from being torn to piece.. Ile had fired one charge without it* taking etlect, and, having no sere atumuniuou with him, lie luckily fired his iron ramrod at the infuriated beast, and dropped him lifeless just as the animal was als►ut to make the avack. lithe expedition had bad an opportunity of going further up the country, away from the sea, there is no doubt but thousands of game would have been kilk.l. If Sir.lohn Franklin has ever reached this distant port of the globe grunt hopes nay reasonably be en tertained of his sa f e ty, as it is not very probable that mankind could ever wa►t in so rich a law', evidently possessing everything that nature can desire. 1 . 4.004E14% ATI% E. LAND St wIETY.—The beautiful e s. tate on the banks of the Thames, near Ificlimmid bridge, comprising the noble mansion built by Clibitt for the Earl of Kihnorey, and tile picturesque park of seventy five acres, has just been purchased from the noble lord for the Conservative Land Society. The estate has a magnificent river frontage, affording most picturesque and extensi‘e views: it is immediately opposite Itiehmond-gardenri and within a short distance of three stations on the South-Western Railway. It is proposed to ensure, as far as possible, the erection of tirst-class houses upon this newly-organised domain of the society.