The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-16 00:00:00

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Yesterday Mr. ii. B. •na IP; (1 the
Greenwich Union Workholi faitheurse of
urging upon the guardians of the union thcS adpooption
of a mode of relief, as regards the regular casual
poor, superior to that now carried on. Mr. Carter,
the chairman, presided over a full meeting of guar-
dians who were present to meet the commissioner.
Mr. FARNALL said he knew the guardians had a
most onerous duty to discharge iu administering
relief in that union, for in it there were 127,670
people, and the pauperism being much' above the
average metropolitan pauperism, the rates were very
high as compared with the average metropolitan
rating. The rates in that union were equal to an
annual rating, for poor relief alone, of 2s. ncl. in the
pound, while the rating of the whole metropolis, if
the rating were equal, would be less than Is. 3d. in
the pound to cover All the charges of the poor,
The 2s. 2d. with which this union was burdened
did nothing more than pay for the poor rate of the
union, and there were many other rates besides, as
he was well aware. The average pauperism of
the metropolis was a little over S per cent. on
the whole population, while the pauperism of the
Greenwich district was equal to about 5 per
cent. Here were reasons enough, he said, for the
guardians to consider whether they might not
adopt some means to lessen the cost of the poor,
and he had come there to give them his views. He
could do no more than this ; for, though there was
a central authority at Whitehall, that authority
could do nothing to enforce upon the guardians a
course of which they did not approve. Now, there
were in the workhouse the previous night 938 per-
sons, 810 of whom were temporarily disabled, aged,
or infirm. These were not the classes, he'ventured
to remind them, for whom the workhouses were
intended ; but they were intended as a test for the
idle and dissolute, and a refuge for these, not as
orphans, 'who had no place in which to lay their
heads. Ile believed the agedinfirm,., apd sick
'ale, the majority at least, EijiTier in their own
little homes, if relief sufficient to keep them there
were given. Then there were 406 sick of these 810,
and to attend on these there were 40 pauper nurses,
and not one paid nurse. The " extras" given to
these pauper nurses amounted to an annual cost of
£315, and he asked the guardians if it was true
economy to give this large sum for irresponsible
nurses when they could get paid nurses for less.
He also pointed out that the itch ward was placed
in the receiving ward, and called upon the guar-
dians to remove it, as being altogether wrong. He
then went on at some length into the vagrancy
question, and he called the guardians' attention to
the fact that they had not yet adopted any measure
of labour test for the recipients of relief under the
Houseless Poor Act, so that they were really en-
couraging. vagrancy, and he warned the relieving
officers that they were not to give tickets for the
casual wards to their regular poor, the poor charge-
able upon their own rates ; but that all such relief
should be charged to the union.
Much conversation followed Mr. Farnall's ad-
dress, and some of the guardians acknowledged
that facts had been brought to their notice respect-
ing the workhouse of which they were unaware.
One of the guardians expressed dislike of the
Houseless Poor Act altogether.

The CHXIIIIAIi said he had no faith in paid
nurses.

They agreed generally that a task of work should
be given to the vagrants, and they told Mr. Farnall
that the subjects he had brought before them
should receive full consideration. They also
acknowledged the value of the information he had
laid before them, and the proceedings, so far as Mr.
Farnall, was concerned, then terminal ed.

The Public Health.
•

The following is the weekly return of the Regis-
trar• General of births and deaths in London and in
12 other large towns of the United Kingdom :
In the week that ended on Saturday, the 10th of
February, the births registered in London and 12
otherlarge towns of the United Kingdom were 4,642;
the deaths registered 3,165. The annual rate of
mortality was 27 per 1,000 persons living.
In London the births of 1,166 boys and 1,149
girls, in all 2,315 children, were registered in the
week. In the corresponding weeks of ten years,
185 G-65, the average number, corrected for increase
of population, was 2,194.

The deaths registered in London during the week
were 1,31 G. It was the sixth week of the year, and
the average number of deaths for that week is, with
a correction for increase of population, 1,509. The
number actually returned is less by 193 than that
obtained by computation.

The mortality from bronbhitis, as well as that from
pneumonia, exhibits a slow but constant decrease on
the deaths in previous weeks ; the former complaint
being recorded in 145 cases, the latter in 67. There
were 154 deaths from phthisis. The most fatal of
the zymotic diseases was whooping-cough, which
was returned in 58 cases, and almost as fatal was
typhus, returned in 55. Thirty-seven young per-
sons died from scarlatina.

The total deaths referred to pulmonary diseases
(exclusive of phthisis) were 237, against a corrected
average of 348 ; those caused by zymotic diseases
were 293, against a corrected average of 325.

The following seven deaths by carriage accidents
in the streets were registered in the week :—The
son of a labourer, aged 10 years, run over by a
Hansom cab ; died on the sth February, in Roches-
row, Westminster. A groom, aged 57 years, fell
from a carriage ; died on the 14th January, in Mid-
dlesex Hospital. A scavenger, aged 63 s ears,
jammed between the curb and the wheel of a cart
driven by himself in Fetter-lane ; died on the 28th
January in King's College Hospital. A labourer,
g
ears, fell on the footboard of a Hansomd on the .eld February in Wells-street, Cam-
berwell. The widow of a labourer, aged 56 years,
run over by a cab ; died on the 2d February in
Westminster Hospital. A. spinster, aged 82 years,
run over by a cart in Long-lane ; died on the sth
February in St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The son
of a labourer, aged 8 years, knocked down by a
dog cart ; died on the 29th January in St. Thomas
Hospital.

The annual rate of mortality last week was 22 per
1,000 in London, 21 in Edinburgh, and 30 in Dub-
lin ; 29 in Bristol, 34 Birmingham, 37 Liverpool,
34 Manchester, 31 Salford, 33 Sheffield, 35 Leeds,
22.Hu11, 30 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and 28 Glasgow.
The rate in Vienna was 35 per 1,000 during the
week ending the 10th just., when the temperature
was 5.7 degrees Fahrenheit lower than in the same
week in London, where the rate was 24 per 1,000.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.624 in.
The atmospheric pressure rose to 29.91 in. on Sun-
day, and fell to 29.23 on Saturday. The mean tem-
perature of the air in the week was 45.8 deg., which
n:r e d
is 7.2 deg. above the average of the same week in
(a s
temperature was m5O years
daily mean
throughout the week, and this excess was equal to
12 deg. on Tuesday. The difference between the
mean dew-point temperature and air temperature
was 5.5 deg. The mean degree of humidity in the
air was 81, complete saturation being represented by
100. On Friday the humidity was as much as 97.
The wind was usually in a south-westerly direction.
The rainfall was 9-10ths of an inch. A severe
thunderstorm occurred at Manchester on Sunday,
the 4th instant, and at Hull and other places there
were storms of more or less violence on the same
day. At Hull snow fell during the storm.

A JUVENILE TRAITOII.—At the Cashel petty
sessions, Patrick'Dwyer, apparently 16 or 17 years of ago,
who had been arrested, pleaded guilty to having torn down
a proclamation that had been posted at the church gate,
John-street. Dwyer, in extenuation of his offence, said it
was for the purpose of making a cover for his copybook
that he tore down the proclamation. In default of procur_
ing bail he was sentenced to two months imprisonment
with hard labour.—lriah Paper.

A triple marriage in one family took place last
week at Lyons. The three couples, representing three
were
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son, and granddaughter, with their respective spouses.
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