The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-31 00:00:00

STATE of the PUBLIC HEALTH

IN THE PAST QUARTER.
(Published by Authority of the Registrar-General.)
The quarterly returns are obtained from 115 districts, sub-
divided into 676 sub-districts. Thirty-four districts are
placed under the metropolis, and the remaining 81 districts
comprise, with some agricultural districts, the principal
towns and cities of England.
The mortality in the last quarter of 1845 was much lower
than is usual, for only 39.178 deaths were registered, which
is less by 14,740 than the number (43,918) registered in the
corresponding quarter of 1844; and 2,357 less than the
average of the corresponding quarter of seren previous years,
notwithstanding the increase of the population at the rate of
, about 1.74 per cent. annually.
A fall of the temperature of the air, from 45 deg. to 4 deg.
or 5 deg. below the freezing point (32 deg.) of water, de-
stroys from 300 to 500 lives in the metropolis. It produces •
the same result on a large scale all over the country. Nor is
it to be wondered at that a great change of the heat of the air
which we breathe and live in should have such an effect.

In the annexed table the deaths returned by the registrars
for each year are given :—Deaths registered in 115 districts,
in the year 1838, 162,867; 1839, 162,605; 1840, 171,694
1841, 160,733; 1842, 161,948; 1843, 163,201 ; 1844, 167,708;
1845, 165,789. _ _

In the first three years there were 497,166 deaths; in tte
lait three years 496,698. The population increased
the
districts, from which returns have been procured' about 1.74
,
(nearly 114) per cent. annually, in the int
census, and the excess of births eve,- ,vats of the last
eat
so that it may be mt.( ly asatirwi
tt. trial the numbers living
ulis has continued,
have gone ou increasing
the same rate—about 9 per cent.
in from
years, fro
1843-5. I.co*- 'Lite middle o' f 1839 40 t.,) the middle of
„„i • ~, the deaths, instead of increasing with the
12°Y-',..ion 9 per cent., and consequently amounting to
041,960 in the last three years, were 496,698---le.s by 45,262
than if the rate of mortality, which prevailed iii-the three
years 1838-40, had been sustained. The improvement may
perhaps be partly accounted for by other circumstances ; but
as far as can be seen at present, it is fairly ascribable to the
partial removal of nuisances from large towns, to some in-
crease of employment, and, we may hope, consequent ame-
lioration in the condition of the great body of the peorle
in the dense town districts of the kingdom. But an epi-
demic, generated in this or any neighbouring population,
may speedily reverse the results of the tables, and carry off
the thousands of lives that appeared to have been spared and.
saved

THE WATERMEN'S STEAM COM-
PANY AND THE LORD MAYOR.
In consequence of the arbitrary conduct of the Lord
Mayor and Navigation Committee towards the Water-
men Steam Packet Company in forcibly depriving them
of the use of the Blackfriar's Free Pier, erected by the
City authorities on the site of the Old Waternaen's
Pier, used originally by them for the accommodation of
the public, the directors of the Company found them-
selves compelled to procure a landing-place as near the
old pier as possible, and accordingly took the premises
known as Paul's Wharf, belonging to Mrs. Needham,
the widow of a free waterman and constructed a pier to
draw in with the rise of the tide ; thereby prevent-
ing anything like an obstruction of the river.
On Wednesday it was put in order, to see
that the arrangements were complete, and in
the evening taken, and moored close to the wharf.
pier had not been used by the public, nor could
any complaint have been made to the Lord Mayor that it
was a nuisance, the neighbours consenting; yet his Lord-
ship takes upon himself to decide upon the matter, and
with force of arms proceeded to demolish the pier, and
incite the parties in possession to a breach of the peace.
To accomplish this his Lordship sent, at daybreak on.
Thursday, the steam-tug, St. Michael, which was;
fastened to one of the barges by the policemen who were
present, according to the direction of Mr. Saunders are
Mr. Pearce, the water bailiffs, and forcibly tore the "first
barge away, and towed it into the stream, and ;•eturned
for the purpose of removing the second which was
moored to Messrs. Crawsby's~nwharf ; this
they accomplished by breF.V.:ng the chains in
two. When towing both away, Waterman No. 5, moved
a-head between the .
hars'es and tug steamer, cutting
the ropes and chains two. At this stage of the pro
ceedings, the u`'.:Licemen and shore-men boarded the
Waterman. menacing right and left with their imple-
ments, 'consisting of hatchets, crowbars, and stares.
Tbely then removed the man at the helm, and were
proceeding to the engine-room, to put out the fires,
but the engineer telling them, if they came there he
would let the steam out and scald them, they de-
sisted. The captain of No. 5, after great trouble and
difficulty, got the vessel to the Southwark side of
the river, which not being in the jurisdiction of the
City, the police made a rapid exit from the Waterman
scrambling into the coal barges alongside of her, and
getting on shore. As soon as Waterman, No. 5, was re-.
leased from her troublesome cargo, she resumed the con-
test with the tug, for the barge, and succeeded in driving
the tug and barges amongst the tiers of shipping at Bil-
lingsgate, where she gave up the contest, allowing the
Waterman to steam off victorious. The company then,
as speedily as possible, with other barges, repaired the
wanton damage inflicted on their property by the Lord
Mayor, and landed several passengers during the day,
who highly approved of the arrangements made by
them.

In laying the above facts before the public, it may be
asked if the Lord Mayor thinks such acts as these will
be tolerated—that a Company having prescriptive claims
to public patronage is to be subject to such arbitrary
proceedings, resulting from private pique. That such
is the fact there cannot be the least doubt, or why does
his Lordship allow other Companies to run out piers,
and peaceably retain possession of them. Such conduct.
as this requires investigation, and we understand a re-
presentation of the above facts, and the persecution of
the Company by the Navigation Committee, since the
erection of the new pier, has been laid before Sir James
Graham, for the purpose of official inquiry. These
extraordinary proceedings on the part of the Lord
Mayor call for severe censure, and shall not be lost
sight of by us.

WINDSOR, FRIDAY EVENlNG.—lnstructions were re-
ceived this morning at the royal mews for the ponies and
pony carriages to be sant over to Claremont early to-morrow
morning, it having been arranged for the Court to leave.
Buckingham Palace in the afternoon, immediately after
luncheon. Her Majesty and his Royal Highness Brincu
Albert will be accompanied by the Royal Family, and
attended by a limited number of the members of the Royal
Household. The Court is not expected to remain at Clare-
mont beyond four or five days, or a week at the longest.
THE MEDAL FOR CHINA.—Mr. Wyon, the engraver
to the Mint, has just completed the die for the medal to be

distributed to the officers and soldiers who have ;served in
China during the late war. The die has been successful;
and preparations are making for striking the medals, of
which 18,000 are commanded. They are to be all of silver;
no difference being made between those to be presented to
the officers and those to be given to the men. The intrinsic
value of each is about ss. 6d. The medal is a beautiful work
of art—worthy the skill and genius of the foremost artist of
the age in this department of art. It contains a portrait of
her Majesty, with tbt', words " Victoria Regina ;" on the
verse is a trophy composed of the weapons of the anr,y- and
navy, restif,s,-- under the shadow of a palm-tree '';hick sup-
ports sue armorial bearings of Great Britain ; o;oove are the
words " Arma exposcere Pacem," and underneath is the
word " China." The ribbon is to be of scarlq with a yellow
border—the scarlet denoting the colour or 'England, and the
yellow being the imperial colour of Cl,..'ima. The medals will
probably be issued to the soldiers sailors about the middle
of the year.—The Art- Union.
ME. SHERIDAN KNOWLS.—.IIr. Sheridan Knowles, it
is confidently stated, will be appointed to the professorship of
elocution in one of the new Irish colleges, probably Cork, of
which city he is a native.—[Government is therefore not so
unmindful of literary merit as some assert; nor is Mr. Alfred
Tennyson the exclusive recipient of public recompense, as the
anonymous satirist of the " New Timon" would imply.l
THE NEW MILITARY PRISON, ST. GEORGE'S BAR-
RACKS, TRAFALGAR-SQUARE.—This building, intended to
supersede the necessity of sending military delinquents to
county prisons, is nearly completed. The cells are con-
structed and fitted up exactly as those at the Model Prison,
Pentonville; and the discipline that prisoners confined therein
will be subjected to is also to be on the same principle as at
the Model Prison.
THE MINISTERIAL MEASURES.—BANBURY, JAN. 30.
—The landlords have adjourned their meeting till this day
week, and the tenants, having no orders, are quiet. I con-
sider the feeling of the majority I have seen to be in favour
of Peel's measures; many would have preferred
an
protection imme-
diate repeal. The people seem awake, theand
i addresses.
placards are quickly covered with free-trade
THE RIGHT NEIGHBOURHOOD FOR A GIN .PALACE.
---
I was one day conversing
with a gentietnanw who hatlju
just
opened a spacious spirit vaults inManchester. I acciden-
tally inquired what had made or induced him to select such
asitnat,on, as I presumed he did not know the locality,
although the premises, for the purposes, were excellently
situated. "Why," replied he, with a smile, "I was one day
loitering at the corner, and seeing several loose men chatting
together, about thirty yards up the street, two of whom
had a dog each, a thought struck me, and I advanced
towards the men, and informed them I would ' stand' two
gallons of ale, if they would bring their dogs to the corner
(where I intended the vaults) and fight them. They agreed,
and in a few minutes the dogs were at their ferocious work.
In five minutes there were a hundred men around the dogs,
all most heartily enjoying the 'sport.' I told them to de-
sist ; I was satisfied, and said inwardly to myself, this is the
spot for a vaults."—From John Eashy's Hems.
THEATRE ROYAL.—The manager, we see, perseveres
in his design to accumulate sterling attractions in this
theatre. We hope and believe he has found this truly
praiseworthy effort to tell in his favour. At all events, we
have not for many years seen so high an average of attend-
ance. Accordingly, no sooner have Antigone and (as we
may call it) its keen and clever burlesque told upon the
public, than our old favourite, " Celeste," whom we have
not seen for a long interval, during which she has gained
metropolitan celebrity, makes her appearance along with
the celebrated Webster, the most enterprising and liberal,
and we believe the most successful of all the London mana-
gers, and withal an actor of acknowledged power in his
own department, as well evidenced by the frequent plaudit s
which attended his appearance. Madame Celeste was, we
remember, a great pantomimic actress of the serious and
pathetic class; but she now speaks, and her broken English
and very foreign accent are exceedingly effective in cha-
racters like Madelon, the Vivandiere, in the clever farce of
the Trumpeter's Daughter, or of Miami, the French-Indian
heroine of Buckstone's rather c, ckneylied and confused
drama of Donnybrook and the Transatlantic Prairie. This
play was brought out at the Adelphi last season without
much success, though Mrs. Stormont gave great pathos to
the repentance of Miami, but in all other respects Celestea
Miami was more effective and picturesque. Mr. Webster
was enthusiastically applauded for his admirable performance
of the Woman llater, tamed till he found himself rocking a
cradle.—Edinburgh Weekly Journal.
The Duke of Modena died in the evening of the 21st
ly sevenays.
inst., in his 67th year, after an illness
of
was born on the
He is succeeded by his son, Francis V.,
Ist of June, 1819.
, painful duty to record
DEATH BY FIRE.—It is our
the death of Miss Jane Augusta Drew, of Woodlands Kilton,
who was found burnt to death. in
.her drtessing-room 'rues-
day week. An inquest was held on he body, 'when the
following facts were ascertained. The unfortunate lady, on
the night in question, slept with her little nephew, Master
John Townes Luttrell, who deposed as follows :—" I was
awoke about six o'clock on Tuesday by a noise, and, missing
my aunt, got out of bed and. went to an. adjoining dressing-
room, which I found full of sm
ceased burnt to death Ivio- oke, slid where I also found de-
table, the floor at"' on her back, nearntihucehdrbesusri
burnt,
It is *Lion— ...u-wasning-stand were very
,used deceased had occasion to go into her dressing-
room with a lighted candle, and fell down in a fit, at the same
time igniting her dressing-gown.
Verdict, " Accidental
death." The deceased lady was sister-in law to Colonel
Luttrell, of Ic.ilve court,— Westgrn Luminary