The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-23 00:00:00

;0 11c,

QUEENSTOWN, SUNDAY.

The Royal Mail steamship Canada arrived here
at 12.30 p.m., embarked mails and passengers, and
sailed for Halifax and Boston at 6.30 p.m. All well.

THE LATE 111 R. FINLAISON.

Some notice of the official career of this eminent
public servant may, perhaps, interest our readers,
and show to the youth of the present day that merit
will usually secure patrons, and will often prove
an efficacious substitute for what is commonly
teamed "interest." Mr. Finlaison was born at
Thurso, in Caithness, North Britain, on the 27th of
August, 1783. Death deprived him of a father's
protection about six years afterwards, but the loss
was to a great extent remedied by the care of a
discreet and affectionate mother. Approaching
manhood he made many friends, and by their help
qualified himself for practice at the Scottish bar.
Visiting London, however, on business about 1804
he was induced to'change his views, and soon after
entered the civil service. Appointed, in 1805, to
the Admiralty-office he speedily distinguished him-
self by a plan, which was adopted, for the entire
reorganisation of the system under which the vast
correspondence of the department was then imper-
fectly carried oti. The Nary List was first compiled
in its present semi•ofilcial form by him, and was
published under his superintendence. While Mr.
Finlaison was at the Admiralty he accidentally
became the recipient of the famous St. Helena corre-
spondence of Dr. Barry O'Meara, his private friend,
a distinction which, much to his dissatisfaction,
subsequently brought him into unexpected notoriety.
A. scheme for the establishment of a widows' fund
in the civil service, and a similar plan (afterwards
carried out) on behalf of the widows of the naval
attention, in
medical officers, drew Mr. Finlaison's
1817, to the study of vital statistics. The information
then extant on this question was extremely meagre
and unsatisfactory; but, resorting to the official re-
cords of the Exchequer, where certain classes of life
annuities had long been payable, Mr. Finlaison esta-
blished from authentic data those deductions which
enabled him successfully to point ont the unfit-
ness of the tables then made use of by Govern-
ment for the sale of annuities. Mr. Finlaison's re-
presentations met with a favourable reception from
Mr. Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer at that
time, and ultimately led to the establishment of a
sounder system, that brought about an immense
pecuniary saving to the country. The immediate
result of his general services on this question was
his appointment, in 1821, to the office of Govern-
ment actuary. From this time forward, until his
retirement in 1851, his counsel and calculating
powers were generally put in requisition when any
of the public measures involved considerations of
political arithmetic. Some of the principal sub-
jects in which he was consulted may be enumerated
in the order of their occurrence.
with the Bank of England for its atic'ell: np
taengooot
oi aft itheon
charge for public pensions, in consideration of the
" dead weight" annuity ; 61e:investigation in 1825
and 1827 by select committee of the House of Com-
mons into the general condition of friendly societies;
the preparation of his report in 1829 on the evidence
and elementary facts on which his new tables of life
annuities were founded ;—This important Parlia-
mentary document contained 21 new observations
of the law of mortality, and one of the law of sick-
ness prevailing among the labouring classes in Lon-
don ' • vast computations of the duration of slave
and Creole life with reference to the emancipation
of slaves in 1834, and the West India loan raised
for that purpose ; Mr. Finlaison's report on the late
Mr. Hume's resolutions on that loan is a Parlia-
mentary paper of that date well -worth perusal. In
the measures emanating from the Ecclesiatical Com-
mission in 1835 ; the steps leading to the " appro-
priation clause" in 1836 ; and those preceding the
discussion of the church-rate question in 1837, Mr.
Finlaison's services were called out to an extent
greatly beyond what is generally known to the
public. He was also consulted on certain points
connected with the establishment in 1837
of the registration* of births, deaths, and mar-
riages ; and the closeness of his estimate of the
deaths which would be registered in the first year
(falling within 14 of nearly 336,000 recorded) at-
tracted much notice et the time when mentioned in
the Registrar-General's first annual report. The
demands made on his mental powers about this time
affected his health, and thenceforward he was
obliged to exercise more caution in his devotion to
the public service. His professional researches were,
however, still assiduously carried on for some years,
and from time,id e
nt (scot bbn
before
f loi
le
ew frequentlylatsoyal
Commissions
to give e
select committees of both Houses of Parliament, un-
til he finally retired in August. 1851. from Lis posi-
tion as Actuary of the National Debt and Govern-
ment Calculator. For the last nine years his
studies were directed to Scripture Chronology, and
to the universal relationship of ancient and modern
weights and measures. His researches, which were
exceedingly profound on the latter subject, led him
to form opinions decidedly adverse to the introduc-
tion of a decimal system of coinage and metrology
into this country. The last few years of his life were
Past in comparative ease andatranquillity, until he
was unexpectedly attacked by congestion of the
lungs, and after a brief illness he passed away on
the 13th of April, 1860, in his 77th year, from a
scene in which he had long taken no useless part.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—HALF-CROWN DAY, Satur-
day, April 21.—Admiesions on payment, 1,148; ditto, by
Bea,ao UCktita, 2,506; total yisitors, 4,054.