The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-08 00:00:00

PRICES OF PROVISIONS.

The rise in the prices of the chief articles of food which
was noticed in the summer and autumn quarters of 1853
has continued during the first three mouths of the year
1854. The average price of wheat in England and Wales
was 455. 7d. per quarter in the three first months of 1853 ;
in the same period of the present year the price has
averaged 795. 6d. per quarter, being an increase of 75 per
cent. The average weekly quantity sold in the cities and
towns which make returns was 95,115 quarters, represent-
ing an expenditure of about 216,7671. weekly in the quarter
ending March 31, 1853, while in the same period of the
present year 60,022 quarters have been sold for about
238,587/. Meat has been somewhat dearer • and potatoes,
which averaged 1275. 6d. per ton at Waterside Market,
Southwark, in the quarter ending March 31, 1853, rose to
140 s. in the same period of the present year, being an in-
crease of 10 per cent. Meanwhile the country has been in
a prosperous state, and notwithstanding that " strikes"
have prevailed in some places, the working class on the
whole have been apparently well employed, at good wages.
STATE OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

The returns from all England and Wales for the first
quarter of this year records the deaths of 111,970 per-
sons. The general result is, that while on an average of
ten winter quarters 2,492 persons died annually out of 100
living, in the last quarter the proportion was 2.481.
The people were subject to rather less than the ordinary
rate of mortality, and although many suffered fatally from
severe weather near the commencement of the quarter, and
sudden changes during its course, the class of diseases that
prevail among children appear to have been more subdued.
In London (I.) 16,534 deaths were registered—a greater
number than in any of four corresponding quarters (1850-53).
The increase arises chiefly from the zsmotic class of dis-
eases, which destroyed 3,254 persons. Hooping-cough was
far more fatal than any other in this class, the number of
deaths referred to it being 941, while to typhus, which was
fatal in the next degree, the number is 582. Scarlatina is
third in the order of mortality, and numbers 417; measles,
344; diarrhoea, 308; a number which proves that this
complaint was considerably more rife than is usual in
winter. Diarrhoea, in the five winters, produced succes-
sively 207, 223, 225, 221, and, as has been stated, 308.
There were only seven deaths from cholera in the three
months. Bronchitis and pneumonia were both extensively
fatal. Cancer numbered 213, 236, 231, 243, and 281 deaths
in the five quarters; carbuncle, 2,3, 17, 20, 23, showing a
constant increase. The deaths referred to intemperance
last quarter are 29, besides 34 to delirium tremens ; those
to privation, 12 ; besides 76 to want of breast-milk.
The South-Eastern Division (II.) enjoyed an average
amount of health. The deaths entered on its registers were
8,446, which is about a thousand less than the deaths in
the first quarter of 1853. Parts of Kent suffered from
scarlatina, and in Maidstone and Sandgate, where it pre-
vailed, the deaths have been above the average. The sea-
son appears to have been fatal in Tunbridge. Places on
the south-east coast, about Deal and Dover, were healthy.
In Hampshire, small-pox prevailed at Kingston and South-
ampton, especially the latter town, where it was fatal to
26 persons, many of whom were beyond the years of child-
hood ; but the county generally was not unhealthy, and at
the Isle of Wight the Registrar of Newport states that the
dryness of the season had been beneficial. Scarlatina
visited parts of Berkshire ; it was reported at Walling-
ford ; and also at Windsor, in January.
The South Midland Division (III.), in which 6,547
were recorded, was healthy in comparison with former
periods, and of the counties of which it is constituted
Buckingham and Huntingdon enjoyed unusual exemption
from fatal disease, though High Wycombe was visited by
small-pox and Great Marlow by measles. Scarlatina
attacked Peterborough; in Shitlington, Bedfordshire, the
deaths were 25, and nearly a third was from small-pox ;
and at Ampthill, in the same county, hooping cough was
prevalent and fatal. There was typhus in Weston and
Carlton, Cambridgeshire; Ely, in this county, was healthy,
which the registrar of Hadenham ascribed to the dryness
of the weather, for in the wet corresponding quarter of
1853, he registered 43 deaths, and now he returned only
20. Four deaths occurred from cholera at Ely, one on
each of the following days, 3d, 4th, sth, and Bth of
January. Newmarket also makes a very favourable
report.
In the Eastern Division (IV.), 6,104 persons died; the
return differs little from the returns of the winter quarters.
This division consists of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk. In
the first of these counties the mortality was considerably
higher than in any of the four corresponding quarters, not
excepting the unhealthy winter of last year ; in the two
others it was reduced below that of any of the same
quarters. The diseases which placed Essex in this un-
favourable position were typhus, measles, hooping cough,
and influenza. Finchingfield had suffered for some months
from typhus, which was fatal in 8 cases. The registrar
considers that reduced means of subsistence, in con-
sequence of the high price of provisions, had favoured the
progress of the disease amongst the poor. It had pre-
vailed also in the parish of Littlebury (Saffron Walden)
and Hedingham. Small-pox attacked flenstead, in Nor-
folk, and continued to prevail in the city of Norwich, in
one of the sub-districts of which (East Wymer) 18 deaths,
and in another (Conisford) 9 deaths, are referred to it.
The return for the South-Western Division (V.) is fa-
vourable, and, as in all the preceding divisions except the
first, exhibits an improvement on the winter quarter of last
year. The deaths number 9,907. The mortality was high at
Highworth, in Wilts, partly from typhus, which has pre-
vailed. In Devonshire the registrar of Heavitree (St.
Thomas) states that the small-pox and hooping-cough were
very prevalent all overthe sub-districts, and adds, "sanitary
arrangements are not carried out." Small-pox was fatal at
Newton Abbot, having caused 12 out of the 74 deaths.
Cholera destroyed 32 persons in Plymouth in the quarter ;
22 of this number occurred in the district of St. Peter,
where cholera first appeared in 1849. The ground is
marshy, and the marsh has been almost entirely built over
and covered with a dense population, who live in the most
filthy and wretched condition. The annual mortality in
St. Peter, which is usually excessive, was raised by cholera
last quarter to 66 out of a thousand living, whilst in some
parts of the same sub-district is was only 23. A case of
cholera occurred in Redruth. Typhus, which arose at

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Martock iiiSomersetshire' from au-open ditch behind somcottages,cottaes, had been raging for several weeks, but was con-
tinued to one street. At Yeovil, out of GO deaths, 44 were
of children under two years, who had been carried off by
hooping-cough and complaints of the respiratory organs.
The West Midland Division (VI.) furnishes the second

instance, and in the whole series there are only two iu which
the deaths in a division last quarter outnumber those of the
same quarter of last year In 185:1, 14,832 were recorded ;
last quarter they rose to 14,993. The three counties of Staf-
ford, Worcester, and Warwick produced this result ; the
other three, Gloucester, Hereford, and Shropshire, which
complete the division, were healthy. In Staffordshire
5,330 persons died, or 575 more than in the three winter
months of 1853. The ravages of scarlatina in this county
were described in the last report; it continued to exert its
power, but with less violence. In Sedgley (Dudley) it
was fatal in 149 cases in the autumn quarter ; it fell to
23 in the winter quarter. The regiitrar of Fenton (Stoke-
upon-Trent) again reports the disease, and repeats his
complaint of the bad sanitary condition of the place. In
Wolverhampton East, scarlatina still existed in its epi-
demic
character, and in the quarter proved fatal in 29
MOB. 310"10%which 1414.3 also common throughout Staf-