The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-15 00:00:00

THE NEW REGISTRATION OF

BIRTHS.

The following is a copy of a circular letter which has been issued to
the clerks of the Boards of Guardians throughout the country :
" Poor Law Commission Office, Somerset House,
August 27, 1836.
" SlR—The Commissioners of Poor Laws for England and Wales re.
quest you to call the immediate attention of the Guardians to the lm.
portant public trusts with which the Legislature has invested them by
the provisions of the Act of the 6th and 7th William IV., cap. 86, for
the establishment of a registration of births, deaths, and marriages in
England ; and also of the Act of the 6th and 7th William IV., cap. 85,
for the regulation of marriages in England, which Acts received the
Royal Assent on the 17th instant.
" The Commissioners have directed that is copy of each of these Acts
shall be herewith transmitted for the information of the Board.
" On reference to the 7th section of the Act for the establishment
of a registration of births, deaths, and marriages, it will be perceived
that the duty which first devolves upon the Guardians is to divide the
union into such districts as they may deem the most convenient, and
as the Registrar-General may approve, to be registrars' districts' for
the registration of the births, deaths, and marriages which may take
place within them.
" It will be perceived—(l) That the division into districts must be
made—(2) The districts named, and—(3) A statement of such proposed
division forwarded to The Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and
Marriages,' for his approval, on or before the Ist day of October next.
" The other duties (in relation to the last-named Act) with which the
Guardians are invested are less pressing as to the time of their perform-
ance ; but the Commissioners now advert to them because the conside-
ration of the appointments of the local registrars may, to some extent,
influence the determination of the proper districts for registration.
" In case you, as the clerk to the board,should not yourself think fit to
undertake the office of superintendent registrar of the district, or should
not be deemed to possess the qualifications which the Registrar General
may, by any general order, declare to be necessary, or in ease your ap-
pointment should not be approved by the Poor Law Commissioners, it
will then be the duty of the Guardians to appoint some other person who
possesses the requisite qualifications to be the superintendent registrar.
" It will next be the duty of the Guardians to appoint persons to be
registrars for each of the registrar's districts into which the union sha
have been divided.

" Each person appointed as a local registrar must possess such qualifl.
cations as the Registrar General may by any general rule declare to be
necessary. If the person appointed as registrar by the Guardians be an
officer of the union, his appointment will be subject to the approval of
the Poor Law Commissioners.

" The duties of the registration of the births, deaths, and marriages
(which it is expected on the average may be about twenty-nine births,
nineteen deaths, and seven marriages, in every thousand of the popula-
tion), will not in general suffice to occupy more than a small portion of
the time of any person within a district of convenient distance from the
local registrar, or from the superintendent registrar, and the probable
emoluments would be inadequate to obtain the exclusive services of a
person properly qualified; as the duties may also, in general, be conve-
niently performed by the paid officers of the union, from the tenor of the
Act it is suggested that it was the intention of the Legislature that the
several offices should be performed by the paid officers of the union,
where no obstacles to that arrangement exist.

" The Commissioners trust that when the time arrives for making
these appointments, the Guardians will appoint those officers whose
ordinary duties are the most consistent with the duties of regis-
tration. It appears by the schedule (B) appended to the afore-
said Act, that the Legislature has declared that in the registration
of deaths, the cause of death shall be recorded; it is evidently impor-
tant that this record should be made with care and exactness; and for
this purpose the Commissioners consider that the public would
derive advantage from the duties of the office of registrar being per.
formed by a medical officer of the union, when those duties are not in.

consistent with his engagements, and he may be disposed to perform
them.

" These officers will be the better qualified to perform these duties,
amongst other reasons, from having been accustomed, in pursance of
the orders of the Commissioners to keep a register of the sickness and
mortality amongst the classes in receipt of parochial relief, in which re-
gister it has been prescribed that the known or supposed cause of the
disease and death shall be recorded.

" Where the medical officers may decline accepting the office of regis-
trar, it appears to the Commissioners that the class of officers next best
qualified to perform the business of registration are the collectors of the
poor.rates appointed by the Board of Guardians.

" The Commissioners are of opinion that where paid collectors are
appointed, or may ba appointed, to collect the rates for the union, those
officers will, as compared with the relieving officers, possess superior
qualifications for the performance of the duties of the office of registrar,
inasmuch as the business ofcollection, with occasional and comparatively
rare exceptions, requires them to visit every house in the union, and in

the occasion of such visits gives them opportunities of making inquiries

with relation to the business of registration. The duties of the Collec-
tors arc in other respects regular, and it is also their duty to make en.
tries, as collectors, with exactness and regularity, which are the qualifi_

cations of a registrar

" Where any medical officers are willing to accept the office of re-
gistrar, and an appointment is made from the officers of another class,
the Commissioners request that the reasons for the preference may be
stated to them, in order to judge of their adequacy, as grounds for the
approval of the appointment. So also where the paid collector of the
rates of the union is willing to accept the appointment (the medical
officers being unwilling), but a preference is given to an officer of another
class, it is requested that the grounds of the preference should be fully
stated.

" Where paid officers of the unions are appointed as registrars, it is
desirable that registrars' districts should as far as possible be made coin-
cident with the district of the officer appointed; that being usually a
district traversable from one extremity to another in the daily perfor-
mance of the duties of the office. Each district must, however, be
made coincident with known boundaries, such as those of parishes,
townships, or hamlets.

" The Commissioners have met ely indicated such arrangements as it
appeared to them would be found most conformable to the business of the

union, and to the attainment of the objects of the Legislature, as ;I
gards the business of registration.

" You will obtain by reference to the Act itself, the requisite infor-
mation as to the particular duties of the officers, and as to other material
points, which do not come within the province of the Commissioners.
" Signed, by order of the Board,
EDWIN CHADWICK, Secretary.
" To the Clerk of the Board of Guardians."

The following is a copy of a letter from the Secretary to the Poor-
Law Commissioners, in answer to an inquiry as to the formation of
temporary districts for registration :

" Poor-Law Commission Office, Somerset House, ISt6.
" In reply to your letter of inquiry with relation to the appointment
of local registrar, the Poor-Law Commissioners for England and Wales
direct me to state that wherever there is any immediate prospect of
any parishes which arc not placed under the control of a Board instituted
under the Poor-Law Amendment Act, being in the course of the pre.
sent year included in an Union, it will not be conducive to the objects of
the Legislature to form temporary districts for registration, or appoint
officers, or make other arrangements which must be superseded when
the parishes are placed under the control of Boards of Guardians.

"'The Commissioners will not, therefore, exercise their power of ap-
pointing local registrars until, from the progress made by their Assis-
tant Commissioners, it should appear that the public business would be
more impeded by the delay in the formation of Unions, than by the
change of the arrangements when the temporary districts and the tem-
porary officers shall be snperseded by the paid officers of the new Unions.
I have the honor to be, Sir,

" Your very obedient servant,
"EDWIN CHADWICK, Secretary.

~•
" The Commissioners are unable to inform you as to the time at which
any proceedings will probably be taken with relation to the district for
which you propose yourself as a local registrar."

NEW ACT for the REGISTRATION OF
BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, and DEATHS.

The following eireular letter was on Saturday received by the clerks to
he Board of Guardians in the metropolis from the Secretary to the Poor
Law Commissioners; and it has, no doubt, been transmitted to the
Clerks of the other Boards of Guardians formed under the Poor Law
Amendment Act throughout the country :
" Poor Law Commission (Mee, Somerset-house,
_ " 9th September, 1336.

" Sir,--The Poor Law Commissioners for' England and Wales
transmit to you herewith a letter addressed to you by the registrar.
general, respecting the formation of registrars' districts, which they
trust will receive the same prompt attention which you pay to the com-
munications from this office.

The Commissioners request that whether you do or do not accept
the office of superintendent-registrar in your union, and whether the
union officers are or are not eventually appointed registrars, the union
officers and yourself will give every possible assistance in carrying into
effect the directions of the registrar-general, and the object of the Act
under which he is appointed.
" Signed by order of the Board,
"EDWIN CHAD WICK, Secretary.
" To the Clerk of the Board of Guardians.''

" London, Sept. 9, 16536.
" ' Sir—ln the recent Act of the 6th and 7th of William IV. c ,p.
86, for registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages, in England, it is enac-
ted, " That the guardians of every Union declared under the provisions
of an Act passed in the sth and 6th years of his present Majesty, in-
tituled an Act for the Amendment and better Administration of the
Laws relating to the Poor in England and Wales, and also of every
parish or place in which a board of guardians shall have been esta.
blishecl under the provisions of the last-named Act, shall on or before
the first day of October in this year, if the said board of guardians shall
have been established before the passing of this Act, or within three
calendar months next after the establishment of the board, if the said
board shall not have been established before the passing of this Act, di-
vide the union or the parish or place of which they are the guardians
into such and so many districts as they, subject to the approval of the
registrar-general, shall think 110 And it is further declared, " That
every such district shall be called by a distinct name, and shall be a re-
gistrar's district."

14 In
requesting you to call the attention of the guardians to this first
duty which devolues upon them, under the provisions of the aforesaid
Act, I deem it expedient, with a view to the prevention of future
delay, to point out the nature and extent of the information respect-
ing such proposed divisions, with which I must be furnished before
I can feel justified in expressing either approval or dissent, and to
convey to you certain principles which it is desirable should as far as
possible be observed in the formation of registrars' districts.
" I request that the statement. respecting the formation of regis-
trars' districts, which must be submitted to me for appproval on or be-
fore the Ist day of October in thepresent year, may contain the following
particulars respecting each proposed district
1. Ai:tisk—State the numbrr of acres or of square miles contained in
the proposed district, or, if no such measurement has been made,
state the extreme length, and the extreme and mean breadth.
" 2. PoPtn.wrzos.—State the amount of the population, according to the
census of 1831, adding the present number, if known, or the
computed ratio of increase since 1831.
3. BouxnAnnas.—Describe the proposed boundaries of the registrar's
district, stating whether they coincide wholly or in part with
any ancient recognised boundaries, such as those of township,
parish, hundred, or county; whether they intersect any such
boundaries ; or whether they lie wholly within them.
" State, also, whether such proposed district coincides with any me.
dical or relieving district of the Union in which you officiate,
formed under the provisions of the Act of 4th ar.o sth of Wm.
IV., for the Amendment and better Administration of the Laws
relating to the Poor in England and Wales.
" State, also, whether any portion of the proposed district is detached.
" 4* IC4roa•—State the distinguishing name by which the guardians
propose the registrar's district shall he called.
" It is requested that a statement respecting all the foregoing cir-
cumstances may be made separately for each registrar's district into
which the union or the parish or place may be divided by the guardians
established therein ; and that the statements respecting all such districts
in the union, &V., Re-
gistrar General of Births, Deaths office, , and Marriages," at his oce,ler
may be sent together by the post, directed to the London.
It must at the same time be stated that the foregoing districts together
form the whole union or ”arish or place, and that no part of it is
ex-
eluded from such districts.
" 11. It is mY wish that the guardians, in proceeding to the forma-
tion of registrars' districts, should not be unnecessarily fettered in the i
exercise of their
judgment, or be diverted from a due attention to local
peculiarities, by the supposed necessity of adhering rigidly to a prec:se
rule; but, inasmuch as it is desirable that uniformity of system, in so

far as it is practicable, should be attained, and that the chance of disap-
proval, and of the delay and trouble consequent thereupon, should, as
much as possible, be diminished, I deem it expedient to lay before
you certain principles, the observance of which will conduce to the de-
sirable attainment of that uniformity, and to the avoidance of those in-
conveniences.
" In determining the proper extent of a registrar's district, it is de-
sirable that area and population should be considered conjointly, and
earls with reference to the other; that, when the population is dense, the
area should be proportionally contracted ; that when it is thinly scattered
over the country, the territorial extent should be proportionally increased.
The evident object of such a rule is to equalize the labours of the regis-
trar ; for it is obvious that the births and deaths in a population closely
congregated within a town may be ascertained and register et by one per-
son with more ease and certainty than those of half the same amount of
population thinly scattered over an extensive tract of country.
" ' With respect to the amount of population which a registrar's dis-
trict may comprise, I ant not disposed to require a very strict attention
to number. But I may state that when the population is of average den-
sity, that district may be regarded as well adapted to the purposes of
registration which contains about five thousand persons. It is true that
such a district (in which the entries of births and deaths will not amount
to three hundred in a year) will not fully occupy the time and attention
of a registrar ; but it must be remembered that the registrar will not
be a person occupied exclusively with the business of registration ; and
that it is of importance, not so much to ascertain the utmost that a single
registrar can perform, and to assign such a district as will fully employ
him, as to take care that neither the extent of territory, nor the amount
of population under his supervision, shall render it probable that any
birth or death can remain unnoticed.

" With respect to the boundaries it is desirable, both with a ♦iew to
facilitate the knowledge of the limits of the new district, and to avoid a
multiplicity and intermixture of divisions, that the boundaries of the
registrar's districts shall (when it is practicable, consistent with the at-
tainment of other objects) be identical with ancient recognised bounda-
ries, such as township or parish, and shall not unnecessarily intersect
them; but it is not desired that the limits of a district should be much
extended in order to make it coincident with any such ancient boun-
dary. Facility of communication is of still greater importance than ad.
herence to an ancient boundary ; and compactness and connection of
territory must not be sacrificed for the sake of such adherence. Thus,
for example, a river extending far, without ford or bridge, may with
propriety be made part of the boundary of a registrar's district, although
the parish, of which that district is a part, may not terminate at that
boundary. It is also expedient that a registrar's district should invaria.
bly be one connected portion of territory, and not consist of two or
more detatched portions.
"`Although it is advisable that the consideration of the immediate
duty of division into registrars' districts, and that of the subsequent
duty of selecting fit persons for the office of registrar, shall as much as
po~i:ible be kept distinct, yet it is right that your attention should be
directed to the 16th clause of the Act for Registering Births, Deaths,
and Marriages, which enjoins that every registrar shall dwell within the
district for which he is registrar. This provision should not be forgotten
in the formation of registrars' districts ; and as it is obvious that the
same registrar cannot be appointed for more than one district, it is de-
sirable that each district should contain persons whose characters for
intelligence, diligence, honesty, and regularity of conduct, and whose
ability to write and keep accounts with neatness and accuracy, may
render them, in the opinion of the guardians, capable of fulfilling the
duties of a registrar. Of the nature of these duties the guardians may
be sufficiently informed by inspection of the Act for Registering Births,
Deaths, and Marriages.

" ' It is recommended that the name by which the registrar's district
may be called shall be that of the parish or township, or of the largest
of two or snore parishes or townships contained in it ; or if two or more
districts shall be contained within one parish or township, then that
each shall be called by the name of some street, building, or place
within each parish or township; but that, invariably, the name given
shall be that of a place, and not of a person.
.„ . _

" ' It is desirable that the letter including a statement respecting the
formation of registrars' districts should refer exclusively to that subject.
There will be other subjects on which it will be my duty to address you,
which must be reserved for subsequent communication.
_ _

" If, before the receipt of this letter, you shall have already trans-
mitted to me a statement of division into registrars' districts, as proposed
by the board of guardians, and if such statement contains all those parti.
culars herein required, and if such proposed division has been made in
conformity with the general principles herein expressed, and is one which
the guardians do not propose to alter, I do not request that the state-
.

ment shall be made to me again, but only that, in reply to this letter, you
shall notify the fact and period of such previous transmission, and inform
me that such statement previously transmitted is that which the guar-
dians adopt as their final statement to be submitted for approval. If
these particulars have been given only in part, it is requested that the
remaining information may be afforded to me with as little delay as
possible.

" I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" T. H. LISTER, Registrar-general.' "

On Wednesday evening, whilst Mr. Macready was
in the dressing-room of the Theatre, preparing for the per-
formance of Virginias, the person who attended him requested,
with seeming solicitude, that " he would be careful about
leaving his watch and purse in a place of safety, as Mr. Gold-
smid had been most unaccountably robbed of a .5/. note in the
same room a short time before." Mr. Macreadv thanked the
fellow, and was about to say that there was something of value
in his carpet-bag, but he luckily said nothing about it. On
returning to change his dress, at the close of the tragedy, he
discovered that his watch and purse (the latter containing four
or five sovereigns) were missing, and, still more strange, his
anxious monitor was nowhere to be found. As he was not
seen to leave the Theatre by any of the regular outlets, it is
supposed he escaped with his plunder through a side door
leading through a beer-shop into the High-street, and gas not
since been heard of.—Cheltenham Chronicle.

THE POTTERIES.—We understand the Potteries
are in a state of much excitement in consequence of the work-
men having turned out, within the last few days, at seventeen
or eighteen manufactories, in which were employed, at a mo-
derate computation, it is supposed, from .5,000 to 6,000 hands,
who received upwards of 3,0001. weekly in wages. Messrs.
Copeland and Garrett, Messrs. Ridgway and Co., Messrs. C.
Mason, and Messrs. Baker, are amongst the number of those
whose manufactories arc stopped. The matter in dispute
arises from the pi °posed mode of hiring for the ensuing year,
which commences, according to custom, at Martinmas. The
masters deem it necessary to adopt some precautionary mea-
sures to protect their interests in future from the effects of
such combinations as have prevailed to a great extent amongst
the men during the present year. The men, on the other hand,
stipulate a mode of hiring, whereby they conceive their inte-
rests will be protected and secured. Thus the parties are at
issue, and the result is awaited with much anxiety.— Stafford
Advertiser.

A singular instance of marsh miasmata lately oc-
curred at the village of Parson Drove, near Wisbech, and was
happily confined to the village. A thick exhalation was ob-
served by the harvest labourers to arise from the fen about
four o'clock in the morning, which continued to grow more
dense till about seven, when it had become so thick and dark
that the teams going in opposite directions came in contact,
and great confusion ensued, as persons could not see each
other at ten yards' distance. In short, the labourers were
completely stopped till about eight o'clock, when the exha-
lation passed off, and the day broke out clear and warm. It
entered the houses like thick smoke, and left the floors and

furniture covered with animalculw. An eye-witness remem-
bers a similar phenomenon about 27 years back in Marshland,
when the stock, being frightened, ran into the dykes.
The Scotch smacks have invariably been noted for
being good sea-boats, and making quick passages, and very
deservedly so, for the owners have always appeared to vie with
each other for good vessels; but we have seldom had an op-
portunity of mentioning such good voyages as we new have,
viz., the Dundee smack Elbe, John Martin, master, made her
passage from Dundee to London in fifty hours ; and the
Union, A. Joiner, master, came from Banff in less than se-
venty-two hours. Both these vessels arrived on Tuesday.
BELL'S LIFE IN LONDON AND SPORTING
CHRONICLE will, on Sunday next, the 18th of Septemb:sr,
contain a beautiful Engraving of " The Doncaster Gold
Cup ;" on Sunday, the 25th inst., "A Portrait of the Winner
of the Great St. Leger;" and on Sunday, the 2d of Octo-
ber, an Engraving of " The Heaton Park Cup." The price
of " Bell's Life in London " will in future be Five Pence.
No expense shall be spared, by extending the Sporting and
General Intelligence of this Journal, to merit a continuance
of the unexampled popularity which it has heretofore attained.
Bell's Life is a large twenty folio column Journal, one-third
of which is devoted to Sporting matters, with a very limited
number of Advertisements. The price, only Five Pence.
Can be had on Sundays 200 miles from London.—Bell's Life
Office, No. 170, Strand.
FASHIONABLE CHANGES.—Viscount Duncannon
and the Countess of Kerry, from Dublin, for Besborough
House ; Lord Ward, at Himley Hall, from Cambridge; Lord
Cantelupe, at Earl de la Warre's seat, Buckhurst, Sussex, from
a tour; the Earl of Fingal, from Leamington, for Ireland;
Sir Richard and Lady Bulkeley, from Baron-hill, Anglesea,
on a visit to the Earl and Countess of Mulgrave, at the Vice-
Regal Lodge, Dublin ; Colonel and Lady Alice Peel, from
Buckenden, Norfolk, for Doncaster; Earl and Countess de
Grey, from Wrest House, Bedfordshire, for Newby Hall,
Yorkshire; Countess Craven and Lady Louisa, at Hemp-
stead Lodge, Berkshire, from a visit to the Honourable Mrs.
George Craven, at Brembridge, Hants; Viscount and Vis-
countess Sidmouth, at Richmond-park, from Brighton ; Lord
and Lady William Bentinck, at Leamingtonsi the Duchess
of Roxburgh and Colonel O'Reilley, at Roxburgh Castle,
Kelso, from the Continent ; the Marquis and Marchioness
of Ailesbury proceed from Grosvenor-square toGermany
in a few days, and thence to Paris, on a visit to tl‘o Cont
de Mondieville, the widower of the eldest daughter of Count
de
Marquis ; Count and Countess Darskiold and Lady Eliza_
heth Bruce will accompany their noblei relatives. This
in thehisNo
bleman is descended from the Royal family of
same way the Fitzroys and.l3eauclerks are descended from the
iot w
King
er,
House of Stuart. Two sisters oeiw
fptiche
sto the
Count,
pseiare,re however,
united to the Dukes of Holstein,
n
grto
of Denmark. The venerable Sir Gerard Noel, the eldest
Member, we believe, of the Houseart
t, s
very o
off Commons,
near
G
his cottage ornee, in Exton-
P
tenanted by his maternal true.ai the s retirededifice o
n t o
e e
nsborough. Count
Matuzewic, the Russian Envoy at. Naples, and for the period
of four or five years onhias sroencgiarlemsiidsLsieoene tioleroeu,r
wCaosusrot
attached
Imperial Majesty. bY
and Englisl 'customs, that he contem-
to English manuct:s
his abode in thisl country when he was a-
plated taking tx.
the di; lomacy at the Neapolitan }Court. If his Ex-
cellencypointed to
obtainedP leave, he would have probably visited
England during the the grouse shooting season. The Count how-
ever, still tes much interest in- sporting affairs, and the
Racing Cal ak
endar is regularl forwarded to him. Baron de
Krudener, Russian Minister, resident at Washington, arrived
at Grilion's Hotel on Sunday from New York. Lord Sey-
mour and his beautiful Lady have arrived at the romantic seat
of the Duke and Duchess of Somerset, Bury Castle, Devon,
where they will remain sonic time previous to the return of
his Lordship to town to resume his official duties at the Trea-
sury. The Chancellor of Exchequer will proceed from Mount
Trenchard to visit Viscount Duncannon at Besborough House.
Lord and Lady Dacre left the Hoo for Cheltenham.
Countess Czernichoff has left town on a visit to the Baron
and Baroness de Maltitz, at Hastings. The Earl and Coun-
tess of Burlington, the Hon. Mrs. Wm. Cavendish (mother
of the Earl) proceed from Holkar Hall, Lancashire, to visit
the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth, in the course of the
week after next.