The Express.
London, England, 1851-09-03 00:00:00

RE ELEVEN HOURS' ROUTE to PARIS,' TILE CIMUS RETURNS AND TIIE PRO-
grab osly two boats Bea. is by the ROUTH EASTELIN RAIL. I DRESS OF INDUSTRY.
AT, rat Fulkestree or Dom.
DOCBLE lAL EXPRESS SERVICE DAILY.
111 srEent. EXPRE4S TRAIN troves the London Prides Ter. The census returns fur this country arc particu-
atm. EVERY ItURNiXti sad EVERY EVENINta, iewhing Pane larlv deficient in information bearing on our material pros-
.
la It bears. penty. There are few of our colonies which produce such
Ileum lake's, London to Paits and teck, orai:able writ the 30th want • a. • -•of there •
) reeor , even lreland IS an agricultural
sweeter.
Ike %KATT RAIL TRAIN, via Reser, leaves the Lsodon Br:rlde felbllS, but as compared with the CCII-114 or yearly rt turas
Terminus at 11.30 r; whim Pas... at 9 iic:ock the following drawn up by our brethrtu in the United States we arc
wrung, and ermeei- at ball-put 9. I Awfully behmtlhand. Very few persons think of looking in
our census Morns for information bearing on our industrial
--
condition, and therefore not many are disappointed. As,
however, Cu= returns Lre. so often quoted in connection
with our statistical ilocutnent4, we think it worth while to
point out that the dat,s of 1801, 1811, 1821, 1931, IS4I, and
1841, adopt( for the census, afford no good criterion of our
, material prosperity. The only itvlustnal clement included
' in the portion of the returns a, yet puhE Ind is under the
head of " houses," and we find that the number of houses
Lying built at each period of taking the census in England
is as follows :
- -

S__
c(Yrnsit CENTRAL ItAILWAY.—DIRECT
,
uvre to the GENTRY. ad :4011111 V SCOTLAND.
AUGCST, 1411. I
tapas% Express. ,
SAD. a.m. pen. p.m.
Trains Iwo Eas!on Station at 930 ... 10 0 ... ..• 0 ... n 43
Atria at stifling 'boot
resat „
Le. p.m.
„ Ahanken „
M.F.DUCED PARY.S.
Tv a 1 0.,' to Perth, Menke, and Aber ken every Wednesday ad
lewd ty, at a 15 p.m. VA». Thirty iludonen.
ROULRT JOILNoTuS, t:, General Manager.
Ycrtls, M 11.11,1431.

1811
1821
IS3I
1101
Ma

The return for 1801 does not exist, and the return for
1811, being taken as early as March, is perhaps not really
inferior in value to the return for 1811, taken in tlic middle
of the year. These fl;ures of course only represent the
number of houses under construction at the 10 yearly time
of taking the census, and do not give the numbers for the
intervening years, and consequently in their present state
afford no real means of emiparison or test of the condition
of the country. We Clll, however, obtain a minimum esti-
mate of the yearly average of houses built by taking the
number of houses added to the total in each 10-yearly pe•
rind. This gives us as the yearly average in each period the
following numbers, which we contrast with the numbers of
the census year:

Moms nouns
bola. built.
1841 to 1411 .... 21,512 .... 1311 16,297
1111 to 1821 .... 30,933 .... 1321 19,274
1821 to 1831 41,359 .... 1831 21,759
18.11 to 1811 .... 51,572 1411 27,411
1311 to 1351 .... 31,067 .... 1851 20,531

The numbers of 1811 and 18:51 arc much nearer the mean
than any of the others ; but it will be observed as a general
fact, that all these number; are much below the mean, and
that corwemently in such years as in 1823, 1821, 133.5, and
1845, an immense expansion of the building trades must have
taken place. Therefore the years of the census neither re-
preen at maximum or mean years of the industrsal condition
of the country. It will follow from this that when
the tables of the occupation of the pupal ition are pub-
lished ttse true shaistics of the large classes connected
ith construction will be wanting. We may observe
th„t the census ye.trs are still further below the aver-
age and maximum, because the yearly aserages given
by us do not include old houses rebuilt, and which must
have afforded employment to a vast extent. If the pmpor-
tion of house* rebuilt be token as 1 in list, then the average
yearly number will become as f'oll'ows:
_ .

01.1 Musa New Total
retnalt. llowra. yearly.
1831 to 1811

- -
1811 to 1851
Compared with this yearly average of 62,835, the return
for 18.11 of 21,U1 houses is certainly small. On the
other hand, it is to be barite in mind that tlough 28,434
houses may
..represait the number of houses in process of
hieing builtin March, 1811, yet that the whole number built
in the year coiling 31st Dec., 1851, may be double, or up-
wards of .50,000. These observations only go by way of cor-
rection of the value of the census period of 18.51 as bear-
ing on our industrial condition, but the returns present
some oth,r results. It will be seen that while the num-
_

bc,r of new houses built yearly men:used from 1801 to 1841,
in which latter period the average was 51,572, yet front
1811 to 1851 the yearly average was only 31,667, although
the population increased very nearly at the same rate as
front 1831 to 1811, or 196,831 persons yearly. Thus, from
1831 to 1811, 514,720 new houses were built, but from 1811
to 1.541 only 316,670 new houses were built, being a differ-
ence of nearly 200,000, or -10 per cent.
This is a fact of some interest, because we know that in
this precise period the condition of the country has most
materially improved, and although a large number of houses
for the labouring population have been rebuilt, there is not
an adequate increase of the number of houses. There is,
however, one cause which acouuts for the operation, and
that it the competition of the railways for building opera-
tives. It was precisely in that period from 1841 to 1851
that several thousand miles of railway were constructed,
abounding uith gigantic bridges, viaducts, and stations, and
requiring the V'ffiCef of skilled workmen, and there can be
little doubt that the effect of these works on prices of ma-
terials and wages was to render house building less favour-
able. Nothing is more notorious than the demand for stone
quarriers, for brielemakers, for masons, for bricklayers, and
ter building labourers, during the periods of railway con-
struction.
This evidence is of particular interest in reference to the
theory of capital as affecting railway construction, as it
tends still further to prove that the measure of resources
available for railway construction in this country if the
amount of suitable labour, and not the imaginary
national saving. or the pseudo surplus capital. So long as
there are labourers, iron-workers, masons and bricklayers
fed, but unemployed, there are resources for the construc-
tion of railways and other public works, only requiring the
productions of the soil for their raw material, and all we re-
quire for the due application of the national resources is a
rational system of I,gislation. if there was in 1846, for in-
stance, manual power suficient to produce nearly 80,000
houses and 1,000 miles of railway, there must be tho same
manual power now. Masons and bricklayers arc not drawn
away to cotton-spinning or handloom-wcaving, and in this
country they must be fed whether they perform a full day's
work or not.

THE EVENING SERVICE-4 AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY
TERMINATED on Sunday last in the presence of an immense
cangrecation, several hundreds being unable to obtain ad-
' mission, owing to the vast numbers that filled every space
allotted to the public. The sermon was preached by the
Rev. Lord John Thynne, the sub-dean, who briefly adverted
to the termination of the series, and the gratifying result
which had crowned the efforts of the Dean and Chapter to
provide extra services in the church during the present
period of visiting and excitement. The sermon was fol-
lowed by Handers Ilallelujqh Chorus, finely executed by
70 voices, comprising the usual choir of the church, several
gentlemen from ..t.
'roes and the Temple, some members
of the Purcell Club and the Sacred Harmonic Society—all
of whom have rendered their services since the commence-

Talent in May last. A splendid dinner, presided over by
Lord John Thymic, given lad night by the Dean and
Chtpter in the College-hall, to several dignitaries of the
cAtlii.dral and the gentlemen who assiNted in the musical
portion of tittle additional services closed these proceedings.

I THE ELECTION OF CORONER FOR EAST ()LOU-
CE.TERSIIIRE took place yestenlay, at Cheltenham. The
high sheriff prcsidi 1. Lord ltedesdale proposed Mr. Joseph
Lovegrove. Captain Robertson seconded the nomination,
and no other candidate being proposed Mr. Lovegrove was
declared duly elected, and took the oaths of office.

THE COUNTERVANk: Wk:AVEUS OF HOLTON have
been seeking au advance of wages, and the masters at once
complied with their demand. At a meeting of the body
the weavers agreed to ask for an advance of wages to the
extent of one penny in the shilling, and also to ask that, in
future, a uniform scale of prices should be adopted by every
employer. On Monday last the masters met ut the Swan
lintel, and having agreed to the proposal appointed a com-
mittee of six to meet an equal number of the men to arrange
a uniform list of prices. This being communicated to the
weavers, n numerous meeting of the body was held in the
evening. and a committee nominated to meet the gentlemen
appointed by the masters. On Tuesday the committee met,
and on Wednesday the business was arranged to the satis-
faction of both parties.
WEST HIGHLAND FLAX IN THE EXHIBITION.—
Mr. M'Ewan, proprietor of the estate of Sunderland in
Islay, has sent several parcels of flax grown this year by
himself and his tenants in that island. The samples are
taken from the variow. farm• on which the culture of flax
has been adopted this season, as an experiment ; and they
are all alike excellent, thus exhibiting the complete adapt-
ability, both of soil and climate in the Hebrides, for the
production of this valuable crop. We have no doubt they
will excite a great deal of interest in the metropolis. The
Lord Provost, on being applied to by Mr. hl'Ewan, readily
gave a letter to one of the Royal Commissioners, which will
secure admission for the flax to the Crystal Palace, where
it will form one of the most striking proofs of the great
productive resources of this country, seeing that it comes
from a quarter of the kingdom which many parties go
about declaring, and which multitudes believe, to be good
for nothing but pasturing sheep, and hardly fit even for
that. We hope that the cause of flax culture in the High-
lands will receive a great impulse before next spring.—
' Nora Brilioh Daily Mail.

UNIFORM OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY. A
general order has been issued from the war department,
givining a description of the new uniform for the army of
the United States, which has been approved by the Secre-
tary of War. All officers are to wear a frockcoat of dark blue
cloth, the skirt to extend from two-thirds to three-fourths
of the distance from the top of the hip to the bend of the
knee • single-breasted for captains and lieutenants; double-
bresaied for all other grades. The uniform coat of all
enlisted men is to be a single-breasted frock of dark blue
cloth. The collar and cults of the artillery are required
to be scarlet; infantry, litiht or Saxony blue; riflemen,
medium or emerald green ; and dragoons, orange-coloured.
The caps for all officers and enlisted men are to be of dark
blue cloth, according to pattern, and so ornamented and
varied in trimming as to denote rank and the several
branches of service. Feathen give place to pompon,.