The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-28 00:00:00

MARRIAGES.

38,498 marriages were registered in the quarter
ending June 30. This number is less by 520 than
the number registered in the spring quarter of 1850,
but more by 3,777 than the number registered in the
spring of 1848. The marriages only amounted to
30,048 in the spring quarter of 1842 ; they rose to
34,268 in the spring quarter of 1844; to 37,111 in
the spring quarter of 1846; declined to 35,197 in
1847 ; and rose again to 39,018 i❑ the spring quar-
ter of 1850. Every marriage is the establishment of
a family, and is generally the result of some delibera-
tion ; it is not surprising, therefore, that the pros-
perity of the country and the prospects of the people
should be expressed pretty accurately by. the fluctua-
tions in the marriage returns.
While the marriages increased rapidly in some
parts they were stationary or decreased in others. In
Louden 6,515 couples were married, which exceeds
the number married in the summer of 1848 by 1,106.
In Surrey out of London, in Sussex, Kent, and
Berkshire, the marriages were nearly stationary;
in
Hampshire they decreased. In the South Midland,
the Eastern Counties, as well as in Wiltshire, Dor-
setshire, and Devonshire, marriages were stationary
or decreased; in Cornwall and Somersetsbire there

was an increase. In Gloucestershire marriage was
stationary ; in Herefordshire and Shropshire, the
numbers married were unprecedentedly low ; in Staf-
fordshire, Worcestershire' and Warwickshire—in-
cluding the chief seats of the Midland iron trade—
the marriages increased. The marriages rose from
383 in 1848, to 487 in Birmingham. In Leicester-
shire, Rutlandshire, and Lincolnshire, the marriages
were below; in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire,
above the average number ; the excess occurring
chiefly in the districts of Nottingham, Chester-
field, and Hayfield. The marriages in Cheshire
and Lancashire decreased. The decrease was
considerable in Liverpool, and greater still in Man-
chester. In the west riding of Yorkshire there
is an excess ; and this is most conspicuous in Sheffield,
where the marriages in the five summer quarters
ending June 1847-51, were 283, 273, 289, 339, and
404. In Leeds the marriages were 351 in the June
quarter of 1848 ; 530 and 487 in the corresponding
quarters of 1850 and 1851. In Hull the marriages
increased from 147 in the June quarter of the cholera
year, 1849 to 175 in 1850, but have fallen again to
158: The marriages decreased in the north riding of
Yorkshire, in Northumberland, and Cumberland ;
increased in the coal districts of Durham. In Mon-
mouthshire and \Vales marriages were less frequent
than' in 1850.
It has been observed that the marriages increase
after a fatal epidemic ; and in the present return the
marriages, it is seen, have been in excess generally
where cholera was most fatal in 1849.

BIRTHS.
150,584 births have been registered in the quarter
ending Sept. 30, 1851. This is the greatest number
of births ever registered in the same season of the
year, and exceed 3 by 23,411, and 15,361, and 3,614,
the births in the September quarters of 1847, 1849,
and 1850. The births of 467,096 children have
already been registered, ar, dit is probable that in the
year the numbers will not fail short of 600,000. The
increase is distributed ever all the divisions of the
country except the South Midland.

INCREASE OF POPULATION.
While 150,584 children were born and registered
in the summer quarter, 91,600 persons died ; leaving
an excess of 58,984 in the population. The excess of
births over deaths in the first nine months of the pre-
sent year has been 170,411, which is probably more
than equivalent to the actual increase of the popu-
lation.
it is well known that up to a late period there has
been a constant immigration of the Irish and Scotch
into England, which appaars to have been fully equi-
valent to the emigration of the English into the colo-
nies and to foreign parts; but no exact statistical in-
formation on this subject exists.
85,603 emigrants left the ports of the United King-
dom at which there are Government emigration
officers in the quarter ending Sept. 30, 1851. This is
at the rate of 930 a day ; 6,510 a week. 13,963
sailed from Irish ports, 4,378 from Glasgow and
Greenock, and 67;262 from three English ports :
namely, 10,062 from London, 2,799 from Plymouth,
54,401 from Liverpool. Many of the Irish emigrants
are returned at Liverpool. Of the total number,
68,960 emigrants sailed to the United States, 9,268
to British North America, 6,097 to the Australian
colonies, and 1,278 to other places. The emigration
has hitherto been greater in 1851 than it was in
the corresponding quarters of 1850.*
The present movement of the population is in many
respects remarkable. The free admission of grain,
fruit, and meat since the scarcity is equivalent to an
addition to the country of a vast tract of fertile soil,
which calls for cultivators, and, as the land is abroad,
for agricultural emigrants who prefer the cheap
though distant lands of America to the high-rented
farms of Ireland, no longer possessing a monopoly for
its produce in the English market. The fact deserves
attention, that while the United Kingdom. has
it been
has
importing food in unprecedented quantities,
been sending out swarms of emigrants from the popu-
lation, of which the marriagss and births promise to
keep up a perpetual and increasing supplY.
PRICES OF PROVISIONS, &C., IN THE QUARTER ENDING

SEPTEMBER 30, 1851.
Average price of Consols, 96/. 10s.
Average price of wheat per quarter in England and
Wales, 403. 7d.
Quarters of wheat cold in the 290 cities and towns
in England and Wales making returns, 971,276.
Quarters of wheat and wheat flour entered for
home consumption at chief ports of Great Britain,
1,183,523.
Average prices of meat per pound at
of 33. to
and Newgate markets (by the carcase), be,
sd. ; mutton, 34d. to 51d. Leadenhall
Potatoes (York regents) per ton at Waterside-mar-
ket,
Southwark, when the supply of old potatoes
ceased, 90s. to 110 s.

STATE OF THE PUBLIC IIEALTII.
The health of different parts of the country differs
widely, and the difference is greatest in summer.
10 summer quarters of 1841-50 the mortality in
506 districts, comprising, when the census was taken,
10,16,886 people, was at the rate of 18.15 in 1,000
annually ' • while in 117 districts, comprising the chief
towns, nod 7,795,882 people, the mortality was at the
rate of 25 in 1,000 annually. Thus, at least 7 in every
25 deaths which occur in towns are the result of ar-
tificial causes. The mortality in the quarter ending
September, 1851, was at the rate of 23 and 17.93 in

* Return with which the Registrar General has been
favoured by the Emigration Commissioners. At the
time return was made it was not quite complete.