The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-20 00:00:00

The table of mortality and the rate of interest used in
calculating the premiums.
13. The evidence which your committee has obtained
leads them to believe that some such general statement
would be of much greater utility in enabling the public
to come to a correct judgment as to the condition of an
office, than any form of account that could be adopted.
In addition to the above, in the case of proprietary com-
panies, the amount of subscribed capital should be stated,
and also the amount actually paid up, and how invested.
14. It has been brought to the attention of your com-
mittee that the business of assurance offices is becoming
every year of a more varied character.

15. This your committee regard as the necessary result
of the advancement of the science on which it is based ;
but there is a class of business which some offices have
undertaken, viz., that of receiving deposits of money at
interest, which appears to your committee totally incon-
sistent with the business of life assurance.
16. Your committee will conclude their report by
calling attention to a part of the evidence which advo-
cates the formation of an incorporated society of actu-
aries, with a view to the advancement of that important
science, and also with a view to issue diplomas or certi-
ficates to persons qualified to practise as actuaries. If
any effort should be made to induce Parliament to grant
such an incorporation, the committee are of opinion that
it will be worthy of consideration, but that further in-
vestigation would be needful before such measures should
be adopted, as considerable difference of opinion prevails
on the subject among actuaries themselves.
August 16, 1853.

SICKNESS, MORTALITY, ctc., IN THE
ARMY.

_
A blue book, containing important and curious infor-
mation respecting the condition of the British soldier
has just been published. It has been compiled by Lieut.
Colonel Tulloch, Military Superintendent of Pensioners,
and DivOraham Balfour, M.D., and it is intended to
form a corttinuation of four volumes on the same subject,
veltich were issued between 1838 and 1841. The periods
embraced by it are the 10 years subsequent to 1837.
The present report commences by alluding to the im-
provements which have been made during that time.
The good conduct warrant was introduced in 1837, by
which a progressive increase of pay was made dependent
on the absence of any serious crime or irregularity for a
period of two years. Notwithstanding the strictness of
the regulations, the augmentation had been received by
14,000 soldiers out of 33,000, who might have laid claim
to it ; and it was thus apparent that a powerful motive to
good conduit which did not previouslyexist had been held
out by this change. Barrack libraries, which in 1847 con-
tained 80,000 volumes, had been established; and ball and racket courts had been erected in most of the bar-
racks with a view to wean men from the habit of spend-
ing their time in the canteens. Greater attention had
also been paid to the ventilation and the general sani-
tary arrangements of their dwellings. In 1843 savings'
banks were established, and by 1847 upwards of 50,000/.
had been deposited—an amount which had since been
doubled. The changes which had taken place with re-
spect to free discharges and limited enlistment would
also be found to have a very important bearing upon the
morale of the army, and would lead to the exclusion of
all that class who from intemperance and misconduct
were constant subjects of punishment or hospital treat-
ment.

The average number of admissions to the hospital
in a the Dragoons and Dragoon Guards throughout
the kingdom during the ten years had been 96.1
per thousand per annum, During the preceding
7i years the proportion was 92'9 per thousand ;
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 been
rather smaller. In the former period the rate was 14
per thousand, or deducting 1.2 for the deaths from cho-
lera, which did not prevail between 1837 and 1847, the
corrected average would be 12.8. The rate during the
ten years in question was 12.4. The deaths from other
causes than disease were 1.2 per thousand—curiously
enough the exact proportion in the former period. The
total mortality bad therefore been 13.6 per thousand of
the mean strength, or 1.7 per thousand more than is
usual amongst a town population at the same period of
life ; "no very great difference certainly, but still suffi-
cient to show that, even in time of peace, the profession
of a soldier is not conducive to health. The rate of mor-
tality of the whole cavalry corps serving in Great Britain
had been 13.5 per thousand ; but that in Ireland had
been only 12.6 ; "being a difference in favour of the latter,
but too small in amount to warrant any conclusions as to
the superior salubrity of that country." There had been a
considerable increase in the diseases resulting from im-
morality. 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 206 per
thousand. In the foot regiments the returns exhibited
yet more disgraceful results—the numbers having been
206 and 277. The number in the Foot Guards had been
250 ; the number in the Household Cavalry not being
reported.

The total mortality of the Infantry regiments hal
been 17.9 or 4.3 per thousand greater than the Cavalry;
a similar excess being invariably noticed, not only at all
our home and colonial stations, but in the French and
other foreign armies. (The deterioration of health, pro-
duced by previous service abroad, did not lead to more
than one death in a thousand. The mortality of the
Foot Guards was actually so high as 20.4. This was
attributed in great part to the improper barrack accom-
modation inasmuch as other regiments in London
had suffered still more. The number of men ad-
mitted into hospital for all diseases, per thousand
per year, was—at the Tower, 855 ; Portman Bar-
racks, 867 ; 'Wellington Barracks, 949 ; St. George's
Barracks, 788 ; the detached barracks, 788 ; Windsor,
957 ; and Winchester, 855. The ratio in the regi-
ments of the line stationed at the Tower was, how-
ever as high 1,095. Fevers and pulmonary diseases had
been peculiarly prevalent at the Tower—the proportion
of men who had died from the former cause having been
at the Tower as high as 4.1 ; at the Portman Barracks,
2.2 ; Wellington do., 2.6 ; St. George's, 1.2 ; detached
barracks, 1.8 ; 'Windsor, 2.8 ; and Winchester, 1.9.
Recent alterations had been made in the Tower, Hyde-
park, Kensington, and Portman Barracks, which, it
was hoped, would produce a marked improvement in
the health of the troops. The number of deaths in the
Household Cavalry had been only 11.1 ; but these corps
possessed many advantages over every other in the ser-
vice, and there were greater facilities of discharging
men who were guilty of irregular conduct, or who deve-
loped traces of constitutional disease.
The total number of men who had suffered corporal pu-
nishment during the ten years had been—Dragoons and
Dragoon Guards, 183; Foot Guards, 40 ; Infantry of the
line, 768 ; showing the following ratios per thousand per
year : Dragoons and Dragoon Guards, 3.4 ; Foot
Guards, 1 ; Infantry of the line, 4.8. The gradual re-
duction had been very striking. The proportion per
thousand sentenced to corporal
unishment in 1839 was
10.2 ; 1840, 8.3 ; •1841, 7.4 : 1842, 7.3 ; 1843, 5.6
1844, 5.5 ; 1845, 5.5 ; 1846:4.1. In 1832 the maxi-
mum of lashes inflicted was 800 ; in 1833, 500 ; 1834,
600 ; 1835, 500 ; 1836, 400 ; 1837, 200. After 1836
no higher number could be awarded, even by a general
court-martial, than 200 ; while a district court-martial
was limited to 150, and a regimental one to 100. Since
1847 the maximum has been restricted to 50 lashes. In
1839, 104.1 of every thousand men were tried by court-
martial, and 2.3 sentenced to transportation ; in 1846,
the ratio tried was 72.8, and the number sentenced to
transportation only 0.9. According to an official
return it appeared that in 1835 the number of men
tried by court martial in the French army was onlyh
18 per thousand. In that year the proportion in t e
English army was 9.0. It appeared, however,vvas thatnot
drunkenness, whether habitual or occasional,
ose-third must be deducted from the Englisho _ _
leave
liable to-be tried by courts-martial in France
fore any comparison can be made.
thTehattywo
armiesnl as
the relative proportion
Frenchofcr.me
armyin a
comparatively
18 to 60 ; but in the
committed by the class of con-
, so that
small proportion was trials be
compulsory, and who, being
of the peopleo,vfwoieutrhn.
scripts whose servicet
the general
to those who enlisted 1/0-
superior in respectho were of less settled and less pruden
selected by lot
luntarily, and w
Indeed, of theantdotaolnnlyumlb2er
bo
yf crimes,the
e onnos
itsfewercr p.
y the
habits. fromnfhwaseneralmass
perdthmoeunsa, thousand were
authorscomm.„i“tteedb
ttahrainlY se6nUst? " continue +),
British army,
a The "being composed entirely f
Blue-book,d
, 0 men volun-
listed, an wno are Usually more thoughtless
t than the en . I
and impruden g era mass of the community,
comparison as regards crime
the must be made with the
same class in the French arrny ; in virli. h
ic case the re-
sults would approximate as nearly
as 56 to 60 ;and the
slight excess of crime still • apparent in the British army
is no more than ma, .
j be readily accounted for by the
circumstance, that as th
fe
be most fre nces have their • e greater proportion of the of-
be origin in drunkenness, they are likely
to
unfortunately quent
among a northern race, who are,
rone oat vice.: Finally, ratios , the
that
of in different armies, as
far as they could be ascertained, were as follows :
Prussian army, 13.1 ; United States (Northern division),
18.8 ; French, 19 ; Indian (exclusive of men killed in
action), 18 ; United Kingdom, 15.75.

THE HORSE TRIOS.--Notwithstanding the almost
weekly exposure in the public journals of the " Horse
Trick," there are still persons left who suffer themselve
to be operated upon. A case of this sort occurred at
the fair here on Tuesday last, in the person of
Mr. Rogers, farmer, of Burnt-wood. On that gen-
tleman going into the fair he was attracted by
a group of men standing round. One of them
said he would give 301. for it. Of course the owner
wanted the mare, and ultimately getting to high words,
said the other party should not have it at any price. The
person who pretended to be in want of the horse walked
up to Mr. Rogers, and in a low tone said, "You appear
to be a judge of a horse, sir, and I should like that very
much, but you hear he won't sell it me ; I should be very
glad if you would try to buy it for me. Mr. Rogers,
desirous of doing his fellow man a good turn, consented
to his wishes, and striking the bargain at 301., he went
off to the bank and drew the required sum, handed it
over, and got possession of the horse, which was not
worth 30s. He then discovered that he was duped, for
his "fiend" had fied.--Leds 'Wagoner,