The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-09 00:00:00

PRICES, PAUPERISM, AND THE WEATHER.

The price of wheat continues to rise, and in the
first three months of this year it was 455. 6d. per
qr., which is ss. more than it was in the same period
of 1864, and 7s. more than in that of 1865. During
the four quarterly periods that have elapsQd since
the 31st of March, 1865, it has been slowly but con-
stantly rising ; it was 40s. 6d., 435. 3d., 445. 10d.,
and 455. 6d. Beef. at Leadenhall and Newgate
markets, sold by the carcase, averaged 5 d. per lb.,
a price which differed but little from those of the
March quarter in 1864 and 1865, which were 51d
and 51d. The price for inferior quality of beef was
in all these three periods the same—viz. 41d. ; for
superior it was 6kd. in 1861, 7d. in 1865, 61d. last
quarter. The highest price of beef scarcely varied
during the last 18 months. The mean price of
mutton was 6d., and was was rather higher than
in the two previous corresponding quarters. Best
potatoes at the Waterside-market, Southwark,
ranged from 555. to 90s. per ton.

The average number of paupers relieved on the
day of each week in the quarter was 139,546
in-door, 759,402 out-door. The amount of in-door
relief was the same as in the March quarter of 1864,
but rather less than that of 1865. The number of
out-door paupers was less than it had been in either
of, those periods.
According to the Greenwich observations the
month of January was warmer than that month has

•
* Return with which the .Registrar-General has been
favoured by the Emigration Commissioners, Of 39,672
-anligiauts the origin was undistinguished in 1;239 cases
whkillawre been dietributed by calculation.

been in any year since 1881. In ordinary course
January is almost 3 deg. colder than December ;
but last January was as warm as the remarkably
warm month that closed the year 1865. At the be-
ginning of the month the weather was stormy, and
the wind blew in gales ; and on the 11th there was
in London a fall of unusually heavy snow, which
seriously impeded traffic and broke down the tele-
graphic poles and wires. Soon the snow disappeared
under a rapid thaw, which was followed by the in-
undation of all the low-lying lands in the valley of
the Thames. lle,avy
rains and high winds, with fre-
qient changes,
its most striking feature
the month to its close ; but
feature was the high temperature,
which continued till near the middle of February,
iadnddl e
the
temperature and showed an average excessf of 6 deg. daily. From
continuouslythis
cold,m Marchve verse
agteh edaai
daily
yw
defectas almost o
f
temperature was about
followed ; then four da33,
fe:legoi Four days of heat
of
Which the mean tem-
cold ; and finally a
warm period of eight days,
perature rose 6 deg. above the avrage. The extreme
mildness of the first six weeks quickened vegetation;
some. places
hedges and fruit trees buddedL.
and in
almost burst into blossom. change in the at-
mosphere from mild and damp to cold and dry Wag
favourable to agricultural operations, •
which had
been in a backward state, owing to the soddened
state of the ground ; and was besides a salutary
check on the too rapid advance of vegetation ; and
at the end of the quarter the growing crops were
sufficiently forward not to be injured by sudden
frosts. The mean temperature of the air in the
quarter was 41.2 deg., which is 1.7 deg. above the
average of the same period in the previous 25 years.
The fall of rain wac 9.3 in., which amount is 4-sin.
above the average. Less than 2in. of that quantity
fell in March, the rest in nearly equal portions in
the two previous months. The atmospheric pres-
sure was low throughout the quarter. AtAldershot
on the 11th snow covered the ground to a depth of
9in., and about the middle of the month snowdrops,
crocuses, and primroses were in flower. On the 4th
February a hurricane of unprecedentedviolence blew
at Belfast and for many miles around it, accompa-
nied with thunder and lightning, and with hail and
rain which swept along in masses. " Large
trees were torn up, chimneys thrown down, and
slates whirled through the air like feathers." This
storm visited Manchester and some other places in
the North of England.
DEATHS, AND THE STATE OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH.
The weather in the quarter, as it was observed in
the metropolis, has been described in its main points,
and the description of it is for the most part appli-
cable to that which was experienced over the coun-
try. It was unfavourable to health ; and by exciting
or aggravating pulmonary diseases carried off many
persons of advanced age. The total number deaths
in England and Wales was 138,233, which implies
a rate of mortality above the average of ten previ-
ous winters, though not so high as it had been in the
winters of 1864 and 1865. In these two periods
142,977 and 140,646 deaths were registered.
It deserves to be noticed that while the mortality
in London and other eight divisions was lower last
quarter than in the corresponding period of 1865, it
was higher in the two remaining divisions, viz., the
north-western (Cheshire, Lancashire, and York-
shire). It would appear that in thelarge andalways
unhealthy manufacturing towns in these parts the
people suffered more than they did in others from
conditions and sudden changes of the atmosphere
which were not confined to them ; and also, as
shown in the Registrar's reports, that scarlatina,
measles, hooping-cough, and other zymotic diseases
prevailed there, and co-operated with the weather
in producing a high mortality.
The population of London is not very differentin
amount from that of Cheshire and Lancashire ; the
births were as 28 in the former to 30 in the latter
but the deaths were 20 to 26.

The annual rate of mortality last quarter in Eng-
land was 2.653 per cent.; the average of ten previ-
ous winters being 2-504. But it is a remarkable cir-
cumstance that this excess above the average was con-
tributed entirely by the large towns ; for in the
country districts the death rate, 2.252, was actually
lower than the average, 2.295. The annual rate of
mortality in the 142 town districts was 2.967 against