The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-01 00:00:00

BURIAL OF STILL-BORN CHILDREN.

Yesterday, at the weekly meeting of the guar-
dians of the poor of St. Marylebone, this subject
was again brought under discussion. Dr. Bach•
h. offner, who had given notice of a motion request.
mg. the co-operation of the other metropolitan
parishes in urging upon the Government and Legis-
lature the necessity of an amendment of the Act
for the Registration of Births, Deaths, and Mar-
riages, more especially with reference to the intro-
duction of a clause for a compulsory registration of
still-born children, said he wished to postpone
his resolution till their next meeting. His reason
for doing so was, that he felt he had not had
time to make himself entirely master of all the
necessary statistics and facts. During the week,
however, he had obtained some statistics which,
however astounding they might appear, were taken
from official sources, and might therefore be looked
upon as accurate. He had discovered that, within
a given period in one district (the rectory) of St.
Marylebone alone, there had been registered the
births of 1,109 illegitimate children, of which num-
ber 821 were registered in Marylebone Workhouse,
and out of the entire number 518 illegitimate
children were registered in the same district as
having died within the same period. In another
district of the parish, which for the present should
be nameless, things were worse in proportion. In
the latter, out of 223 illegitimate births re-
gistered, there were within the same pe-
riod 209 deaths of illegitimate children. He
mentioned these facts in order
.that
.the members
of the board might bring their minds to bear
upon a subject of such importance. There was also
a point upon what he desired to set himself right,
and that was in reference to the employment of
midwives. An impression had gone abroad that
he intended to ignore and abolish midwives alto-
gether. Nothing of the kind ; but what he did
want to see was, that all who practised as mid-
wives should be subject to a registration. (Hear.)
Several gentlemen having addressed the meeting
the resolution was postponed. In addition to St.
Luke's, Chelsea, the directors of St. Pancras, Is-
lington, St. Luke's, and other parishes, have had
the subject under consideration within the last few
days; and Mr. Wakley, the coroner, has also
dwelt upon the subject at inquests, and expressed
his conviction that further legislative enactments
to prevent child-murder are necessary.

The diligence from Bologna to Rome was assailed
by three armed brigands on the night of the 20th ilia. The
spot chosen for the onslaught was near Recanate, a very
hilly district, and the horses were brought to the ground by
a strong rope which the robbers had stretched across the
road. Amongst the passengers were a colonel of Papal in-
fantry, who sat very snug with his sword between his legs,
and a vice-brigadier of gendarmes, who sprung upon the
bandits, and used his sabre to such purpose that he wounded
one and put the others to flight, their blunderbusses fortu-
nately missing fire. By his courageous conduct he saved
8,000 scudi (11,733), which were being conveyed to Rome
under charge of the conductor, besides the personal property
of the travellers.