The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-08 00:00:00

MARRIAGES.

35,014 marriages were celebrated in the first quarter
of the year, or 2,081 more than were celebrated in the
corresponding quarter of 1852. The unexampled increase
of marriages is shown in a table, where it is shown that
in the winter quarters 48,894 persons married in 1841,
54,960 in 1847, 70,028 in 1853.
The increase in the marriages is most conspicuous in
London, in the seaports, and in the manufacturing
towns ; in Northamptonshire, Devonshire, Cornwall,
Gloucestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcester-
shire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Cheshire, Lan-
cashire, the West Riding of- Yorkshire, Westmorland,
and Monmouthshire ; in Portsmouth, Plymouth, South-
ampton, Bristol ; in Northampton, Bath, Stroud, Wol-
verhampton, Dudley, Birmingham, Nottingham, Ches-
ter, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Merthyr Tydvil. In
all the most prosperous districts of the country the mar-
riages increased. In Dover, in Brighton, in St. George
Hanover-square, in several other districts, and in the
eastern counties the marriages declined.

BIRTHS.
The births fluctuate less than either the marriages or
the deaths, and in the three quarters endingT.ll Inn 1851-
52-53, the numbers were 159,138, 159,136, and 58 718,
or nearly the same in amount, but considerably
the average of preceding years. The births, above
on an ave-
rage rate of 3.428
of 10 spring quarters, were at the
per cent. ; in the last quarter ending June 30 the rate
was 3.507 on the population.
INCREASE OF POPULATION.
As the births of 158,718 children and the deaths of
107,861 persons of all ages were registered in the quar-
ter, a balance of 50,857 remains in favour of
i the popu-
lation. The excess of births over deaths s less by
eight or twelve thousands than the excess in the cor-
responding. quarters of the three previous years ;
chiefly owing to the high rate of mortality in 1853.
115,959 emigrants sailed from the ports of the United
Kingdom at which there are Government emi-
gration agents ; 78,205 to the United States, 20,107
to British North America, 17,152 to the Australian I,
Colonies, and 495 to other places. 7,884 of the emi-
grants sailed from Glasgow and Greenock, 16,993 from
Irish ports, 74,646 (including many Irish) from Liver-
pool, 2,095 from Plymouth, 3,722 from Southampton,
and 10,619 from London. The emigration from the
United Kingdom has been at the rate of 8,920 a-week,
equal to the number of inhabitants in a majority of the
368 municipal boroughs of Great Britain. In Scotland
and Ireland the births and deaths of the population are
left unregistered, so that it is impossible to determine
the rate of natural increase in the United Kingdom ; but
at the rate prevailing in England, which it cannot ex-
ceed, the excess of births over deaths would be 79,820,
or less by 36,139 than the 115,959 emigrants.
The price of provisions during the quarter was consi-
derably higher than the ruling prices in the correspond-
ing months of the year 1852 ; wheat was sold on an
average at 445. 6d. a quarter ; beef, by the carcase, in
London, at Cid. per pound ; mutton, s'4d. per pound ;
potatoes (York regents) at 1275. 6d. per ton. The price
of wheat was 10 per cent., beef 22 per cent., mutton 31
per cent., potatoes 31 per cent. higher in April, May,
June, 1853, than in the corresponding months of 1852.
It is evident that the price of wheat bears no longer any
constant relation to the price of the other chief articles
of food consumed by the rich or the poor ; and it must
be considered a fortunate circumstance that the price of
bread is not now likely to fluctuate so largely as the
prices of the more perishable articles with which the
markets of England are supplied from a comparatively
limited area.