The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-11 00:00:00

CRIMINAL COUE.T.—(This Day.)

OLD COURT.

(Babre the Recorder.)

Two men, named Wheeler, father and son, described
as coffeehouse keepers in Whitechapel, were indicted
for stealing a young cock from the premises of Mr.
Baxter, a gentleman residing at Chigwell. The men
had been to Romford, and were apprehended at Mile-
end, the fowl being in their possession, together with
three others whose ownership had not been traced. A
loquacious old woman was the principal witness, and
though she was very positive about the identity of the
fowl, which was produced and made a violent noise, her
testimony was not of the clearest or most satisfactory
character. Mr. Ribton pointed out the defects in the
evidence, and stated, on the authority of the prisoners,
that they had bought the fowl of Mr. Baxter, who dtd
not appear to give the Court any information upon the
subject.

The jury felt the force of Mr. Ribton's statement, and
returned as their verdict that the prisoners were Not
Guilty.

NEW COURT.

TITTERING COUNTERNEIT COlN.—Thomas Harrison, a
youth, was indicted for uttering a counterfeit half .crown,
and also with having other counterfeit money in his
possession, well knowing it to be counterfeit.
From the evidence it appeared that on the 9th of
March, the prisoner, who was the son of a labouring
man, residing in the neighbourhood of the Elepl:ant
and Castle, went into Pettiooat-lane, and there,
in purchasing some fish of a man named Hart, ten.
dered in payment half--crown. Hart immediately
discovered that the piece of money was counterfeit,
and told the prisoner so, who said, "Is it Y then I'll
give you another, and make no noise about it." Hart
refused the proposal, Saying, "No, you've been to me two
or three times before to-day, and before I let you go I
must look over my money." He (prosecutor) went into
a public-house to examine his pockets, leaving
the prisoner in charge of another person. On
looking over his cash, he discovered that he had two
counterfeit shillings, aed he resolved to give the
prisoner into custody. He (prisoner), on seeing
Hart, ran away, but was captured by a man
named Hyame, and on his vay towards the station-hous,
the prisoner threw away sonething,which was afterwards
found to be two counterfeit shillings. On being
searched at the station-honse,a quantity:of good money was I
found upon his person, but anongst it was a bad shilling,
which was proved to have keen east in the same mould
from which one of the base shillings found in Hart's
pocket was made.
For the prisoner it was contended that it was a case of
mistaken identity, and that tin good money found upon
him was not the produce of parsing bad money, but was
his own money which, according to the statement of
his mother, he had saved duri,g the winter, and which
she had given him the morning he was taken into cus-
tody to purchase some clothes with.
Two policemen swore they had frequently seen the
prisoner in the company of persons of noted bad cha-
racter, but that they hal neve? known him to have been
" in trouble."

The jury found the prisoner guilty.
The Common Sergeant sentenced Lim to 12 months'
mprisonment, with hard labotr.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—(This Day.)

MARLBO KU LJ h.-S IRE ET.
INDECENT BEHAVIOI7R IN Ef YbE-PARK. —Henry Ridge,
59, of GO, Admiralterrace, Veuxha I-bridge-road, was
charged before Mr. Bingham with indecently exposing
his person at Hyde-park.
W. Bowcock, of 43, Praed•ytreet, porter on the Great
,Western Railway, said that on the previous afternoon,
labout four, he was in Hyde-park, where he saw the
prisorier fxposiog his person to a young female, who
had four or six children with her, of abut the age of
twelve, near the Magazine close to the Serpentine. The
prisoner then walked away to some hurdles near the
Victoria-gate, where he repeated the same conduct to
the same female—altogether he did it four times. The
female asked him to get a policeman, and he endeavoured
to do so. The prisoner did not seem to have been
drinking, He spoke to the park constable and he was
taken into custody.
W. P. Nolan, park constable No. 21, said he took
the prisoner into custody and asked him why he bad
done so. He admitted having his clothes disarranged,
but said there was no harm. The witness further stated
that at the time in question there were a large number
of carriages containing company waiting to see the
Queen, it being the time when the park was always
fu!l.

The prisoner said if he had done so he was sorry.
Mr. Bingham said the prisoner bad not only done it
once but had repeated the offence several times. He
should mark his sense cf his conduct by sending him to
prison for three months with hard labour.

QUARTERLY _RETURN OF MARRIAGES.
BIRTHS, AND DEATHS.

This return, being of the marriages solemnised in
dOctober,
which NovNov etionobke r,D
place December, bjear,n
ul
aBrsy7,, andl the births
in ab
ruaryMarch,
an
d
deaths nd
1858, has just been published. It comprises the births
and deaths registered by 2,196 registrars in all the dis-
tricts of England during the winter quarter that ended
on March 31, 1358 ; and the marriages in 12,272
churches or chapels, about 3,939 registered places of
worship unconnec t.ed with the Established Church, and
629 superintendent Registrar's offices, in the quarter
that ended on December 31, 1857. The return presents
an unfavourable aspect. The marriages of the year
1857 and of the last quarter of that year were below the
average number. The weather was severe, the people
suffered, and the death-rate in the first quarter of the
year 1858 was heavier than it is ott an average ; but the
birth-rate in the same quarter, though lower than in the
three previous ivexters, was above the average. The
population of the country is still increasing.
MARars.GEs.—Tae Christmas quarter is always distin•
guished in &gland and Wales by the multitude of its
marriages. Ninety-one thousand seven hundred and
seventy-two persons married in the last three months of
1857. The marriages of the quarter were at the rate of
1.878 persons rxiarried to 100 living in a year ; the de-
cennial average rate of the corresponding quarter being
1.994.

BIRTHEL—The births of 171,001 children, born alive,
were registered in the quarter that ended on March 31 ;
a number exceeding by 620 the births in the correspond-
ing winter quarter of 1857 ; and the highest number
that was ever ;registered within the same time and
raison. Childrtiit were born at the rate of 1,900 a day.
The births in tht, quarter were at the rate of 3.568 noun
ally to 100 of the
population, the average being 3.518.
The birth,, fiuct uate little in comparison with the mar-
riages and the deaths in the several divisions of the king-
tic worthynAe
king-
dom ; but the decrease of births in the northern coun-
ties
oofarn°Peo.IPULATION.--171,001 births and
125,902 deaths were registered in the first ninety days
of the year ; an:d the natural inereas-3 of population in
that period was therefore 45,099, or 501 (telly. The
natural increase in the winter quarter of 1857 was €.87
daily. The falling off in the increase of population is
referable to the useceesively high rate of mortality during
the past winter : for the births exceeded by 7 daily the
births in the Winter of 1857. The daily natural in-
crea-e population in the United Kingdom was pro-
bab of
lyabout 75;0 daily. 19,146 emigran s sailed from
the ports of Me United Kingdom at which there are
Government emigration agents ; of whom 7,230, or al-
lowing persons. of undistinguished birth-place, 8,142,
were of Engli ail origin. On an average 90 English
left our shores daily. 5,683 of the English emigrants
sailed to the Australian colonies; 2,299 to the United
States; none to the North American colonies. Nothing
is more rernarLes.ble in the movement of our population
than the decrease of emigration since the war. In
the three moilths of 1849, January, February and
March, 60,626 emigrants sailed from our parts;
49,524 to the United States, 1,337 to British North
America, and 8,627 to the Australian colonies ; in the
corresponding three months of 1858 only 19,146 emi-
grants sailed from the same ports, 8,208 to the United
States, 24 to British North America, and 9,867 to the
Australian colonies.
PRICE or PROVISIONR—The price of provisions has
undergone groat fluctuations. The price of wheat in
the first three months of each ef the three years 1856,
1357, and 1853, was on an average 72.. 43.. 565. 10d.,
46e. sd. a quarter. The fall of price since 1856 has been
26 per cent., and sines 1857 it has been 18 per cent.
Beef and mutton by the carcase at Leadenhall and New-
gate were cheaper in the winter of 1846 than in the
winter of 1857. The price of beef fell from 52J, to 541.
Sid, a pound. Beef is
at the same price, mutton is dearer than it was in the
first three months of 1856. Potatoes present an unfor-
tunate exception ; they attained an exhorbitant price.
than the lB5B,
pries
The York Regents at the waterside market, Southwark,
ianptohuentdh,
roefemwuiattto.enrsforfomlB6s46l to
1857,
and sold i
nr elsBpse7c,-
tieely at 86a., 110 s., and 1525.
a ton. The price in
1858 anti
77 pser 39
cent. higher than the price in 1856. The
wa
greengrocer's bill has thus increased, and the supply of
vegetables for the poor population
has been inadequate.
THE PUBLIC HEALTH.-125,902
per cent. higher thaa
deaths were regis-
tered in the three months ending on March 31. This
number exceeds by 17,375 the deaths in the correspond.
ing winter quarter cf the previous year, and by 22,694
the deaths in the winter quarter of 1856. The rate of
mortality in the three winter quarters was 2'186. 2.292,
and 2.627 per cent. per annum ; or about 22, 23, and
26 per 1,000. As a general rule the mortality in Eng-
land is highest in cold winters, levvest in winters of mo-
derate temperature, and it has a tendency to rise
when the temperature of the winter quarter exceeds
forty degrees of Fahrenheit. The mortality of the
quarter was at the rate of 2.854 per cent. in the town
districts, and at the rate of 2.367 per cent. in the coun-
try districts, thus exceeding the average in town dis-
tricts by .176, and the average of country districts by
.141. The cause of the increase, therefore, pervaded
but its pressure wp.s most severely
Tice deaths in the three months
fteolwtninantdhecoutonwtrnys.;
amounted to 125,902, and the mortality was at the rate
of 26 deaths annually in 1,000 of the population. Had
the 17
deathsity
would have amounted to 82,000. annually
The excess
the mortal been at the rate of in 1,000,
of deaths over this number in the 90 days was 43,902,
or 488 daily ; which it was shown in the last quarterly
report may be properly designated unnatural deaths,.