The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-06 00:00:00

THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

It appeuis rrom the return issued by authority or tae
Registrar-General, that in the week that ended on Satur-
day, 2nd January, 5,076 births and 3,429 deaths were
registered in London and in thirteen other large
towns of the United Kingdom. The annual rate of
mortality was 28 per 1,000 persons living. The annual
rate of mortality last week was 27 per 1,000 in London, 30
in Edinburgh, and 25 in Dublin ; 24 in Birmingham,
25 in Bristol, 29 in Liverpool, 31 in Manchester,
28 in Salford, 23 in Sheffield, 27 in Bradford, 34 in Leeds,
21 in Hull, 32 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and 34 in
Glasgow. The rate in Vienna was 29 per 1,000 during
the week ending the 26th ult:, and in Berlin 31 per 1,000
during the seven days ending the 31st ult. The measures
which have been recently adopted in Sheffield for the pur-
pose of securing more general vaccination do not appear
to have yet favourably influenced the mortality from
smallpox in that town. During last week no less than
fifteen deaths in the borough were referred to this disease,
of which twelve were reported to be unvaccinated cases.
In London the births of 1,303 boys and 1,202 girls, in all
2,505 children, were registered in the week. In the
corresponding weeks of ten years, 1858-67, the average
number, corrected for increase of population, is 2,037.
The deaths registered in London during the week were
1,629. The average number is, with a correction for
increase of population, 1,660. The deaths in the present
return are less by 31 than the estimated amount. The
births and deaths are considerably in excess of the
numbers recorded in the preceding week, which is pro-
bably due to an accumulation of cases not then
registered on account of the Christmas holidays. The
deaths from zymotic diseases were 328, the corrected
average number being 367. Seven deaths from smallpox-,
35 from measles, 83 from scarlatina, 10 from diphtheria,
49 from whooping-cough, 56 from fever, and 9 from
diarrhoea were registered. 188 deaths occurred from
phthisis, 196 from bronchitis, and 98 from pneumonia.
The corrected average number of deaths from phthisis is
r 176, from bronchitis 224, and from pneumonia 108.
Diseases of the brain and nervous system proved
fatal to 216 persons, and_ 92 persons died from diseases
of the organ 3 of circulation. The deaths of 3 persons from
delirium tremens, of 3 persons from intemperance, of 4
infants and 4 adults from syphilis, of 10 children and 3
adults from burns or scalds, of 13 persons from drowning,
of 10 infants and 5 adults from suffocation, of 6 persons
who committed suicide, and of 3 persons who were killed
by horses or carriages in the streets, were recorded.
During the year 1868 the deaths of 203 persons
who were killed by horses or vehicles in the streets were
registered. Sixty-five children under the age of 10 years,
18 young persons from 10 to 15 years of age,
and 120 persons, aged 20 years and upwards, lost their
lives. Seven persons were killed by horses, 12 by omni-
buses, 21 by cabs, 45 by vans or waggons, 7 by drays,
53 by carts, and 58 by vehicles not described. The ques-
' tion arises, should heavy waggons and such vehicles be
driven at their present velocity, often by unskilful drivers,
in the streets of London ? The returns indicate bow many
human lives this work will cost in the ensuing year.

A CIVIL LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY
ON THE EXPENDITURE.

At the re-election of Mr. Trevelyan for the Border
Burghs, the hon. gentleman, who has accepted the office
of a Civil Lord of the Admiralty in Mr. Gladstone's
Government, made some interesting remarks on the
present enormous expenditure of the country. He said:
" You all know what Mr. Bright said at Edinburgh about
a free breakfast-table. Some people called him rash, but if
so it be, it is a rashness which the country is likely to
prefer
to other men's prudence. But, rash or not, one
thing he said was undoubtedly true, and that is, that a
Government which cannot carry on the ordinary normal
business of the country under seventy millions a year
does not deserve to exist. But Mr. Gladstone appears
to have been rash too. In his speech to that great
metropolitan constituency, which has in such a delicate
and generous manner refuted his own old argument in
favour of the necessity for nomination boroughs, he says
that he for one will be deeply disappointed if in the esti.
mates, which it will be our duty to present to Parliament
in February, you do not already perceive some fruits of
economical labour. And, therefore, following these great
examples, I may say that we confidently and humbly hope
that the next few years may witness a continuous and very
sensible reduction in the burdens of the country. But the
admirers of the late Government tell you that we shall
effect this purpose by diminishing the fighting strength of
the country. That is not the case. That would be the
case if Mr. Childers and Mr. Cardwell were, like bad
administrators, to have alternate fits of wholesale extra-
vagance and blind, indiscriminate parsimony. But the
spirit in which they are going to work is a spirit of ever-
watchful vigilance, which will never miss an opportunity,
and will aim not at striking the public imagination, but
at saving the public money without neglecting the public
security. We want men who are soaked through
and through with public spirit, men who are
born Radicals in V- e best sense of the word,
men who have the same ingrained desire to have the
public business done well and cheaply that a manufac-
turer has to get the best labour at the lowest rate. And,
unless there is nothing in antecedents, such men you have
at length got ; and we may hope that, under the blessing
of Providence, the nation may learn by a satisfactory ex-
perience that true efficiency is identical with true economy.
To take one example out of a hundred. Each of our
brigade of artillery is officered to the admiration of all
military Europe by fifteen officers, who have obtained
their commission by merit, and who are professional
men in the best sense of the word. A regiment
of cavalry, which is of about the same strength
t .
in horses and men, is officered, not altogether
to the admiration of military Europe, by thirty-
four officers who, though they have for the most
part obtained their commissions by purchase, cost the
country as much as if they had obtained them by merit.
To take an example from the sister service, there is a
class of vessels which up till lately were still being built
in far too great numbers out of the heads of their
admirers—l mean wooden broadside ships of the line.
There is at this moment a ship of this class bearing the
Admiral's flag on one of our principal foreign stations.
She works 72 guns, is manned by nearly 800 men, costs
us £t,0,000 a year, and would be sunk in five minutes
by an iron ship with one 200-pounds gun on board—such
a ship as the Confederate Government used to knock
together in a month with the iron rails off a deserted line
of railway. Ido not know much as yet about the War
Office, but I know the gentlemen at the head of the War
Office have a terrible task before them. They have
opposed to them two tremendous influences— the influence
of the aristocracy and the influence of the Court. Ido
not mean by the influence of the Court to say one
word against any member of the Royal Family, whom I
with you affectionately respect ; but I do maintain
that it is not right that a royal duke should be
placed permanently in such a position as that of
commander-in-chief. He is not responsible to the nation
in the same manner that a peer is responsible, and goes
out with the Government. He is not responsible in the
same manner that a Commenner is who, if he does wrong,
has a chance of being cut out of public life altogether.
There is likewise the aristocratic influence, for the army
has always been a favourite resort of the aristocracy, and
it is in the army that we see the most important develop-
ment of the present state of society in England, for there
you have land and wealth, barring the door very closely
against merit and moderate means. But in the Admi-
; ratty, by the changes now effected, we have, instead of a
great board of men, with half power and half responsi-
bility, one great officer responsible for everything, and
under him three officers who are rep ,nsib!e to him for
each separate department. The consequence is that I
think you will see in the very. first estimates laid before
Parliament a very marked indication that a change ha,
taken place.

No cause for anxiety any longer exists regarding
the health of Mr. Torrens, M.P., who is daily progressing
steadily towards convalescence.

Letters from Berlin report that Viscount de
Pava, Portuguese Minister in that capital, instead of
dying by apoplexy, as at first announced, had committed
suicide. His motive for such an act is declared to have
been of a private nature.

THE WELLS MURDER.—The respite of Bisgrove,
which has caused some dissatisfaction in Taunton and the
neighbourhood, is said to have been granted by the Home
Secretary through well-founded representations that the
criminal's intellect was impaired, a clergyman having for-
warded a communication enclosing statements to that
effect. A medical certificate was also forwarded by a
surgeon of Charlton, to the effect that he had attended
B:sgrove for epilepsy and for an attack of sunstroke, and
that when under the influence of drink the convict was
not responsible for his actions.

DEATH OF THE BARONESS VON MOLTKE. —The
Baroness Von Moltke, wife of the celebrated general
of that mime, died on the 24th ult. She caught
gold while riding, about three weeks ago ; acute
rheumatism followed, and eventually reached the
heart. She was not only universally loved and re-
spected for her amiable character and quiet unassum-
ing manners, but was also a woman of considerable
intellectual attainments, and frequently assisted her hus-
band in work connecter] with his profession. Her maiden
name was Burt, and her father, who was an Englishman,
mud resided in Holstein, married the general's sister as his
second wife. Few men are regarded in Prussia with
treater respect than General Moltke, and his bereavement
gmeizalgurpniatbY magma all clapaeat.