The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-06 00:00:00

MILITIA.

The Northumberland Artillery Militia met at
Clifford's Fort on Monday, and in the afternoon, in
consequence of Tynemouth garrison being occupied
by a detachment of the 3d -West York Militia, they
marched to the North Shields Railway Station for
Hexham.

The Norfolk Artillery assembled yesterday morn
ing at the County Depot, South Downs, near Yar.
mouth, for embodied duty.

ARMY WORKS.

The following circular, relative to the execution
of works by general officers, has been issued from
the War-office :

" Referring to circular No. 309, dated the 7th of Septem-
ber, 1858, by which general officers commanding districts
are empowered to direct the immediate performance of such
small works as they may consider to be urgently necessary,
and from the want of the immediate performance of which
the service would manifestly suffer, Secretary Major-
General Peel has observed that thiscircular appears in
many instances to have been misunderstood, and that gene-
ral officers have ordered the immediate execution of various
services, which, though they may be desirable in them-
selves, are by no means of a nature sufficiently urgent to
warrant their having been ordered without reference to
himself. He desires to make the following observations on
this subject :
" The funds voted in the annual estimates being limited,
the Secretary of State is compelled to maintain a constant
watch over the expenditure, and to keep himself acquainted
with the sums which can be made available from savings
on authorised items, so as to provide for the execution of
services not included in the estimates without exceeding
the amounts authorised by Parliament. What makes
this close supervision the more necessary is that the
number of unforeseen services required in the course
of the year, which cannot without inconvenience
be postponed until the estimates of the ensuing year, is vAry
considerable, so much so that not unfrequently the Secretary
of State finds himself reluctantly compelled, from want of
funds, to withhold his sanction for their immediate execution.
Under these circumstances it will be evident that the powers
granted by circular No. 309 should only be exercised in
those very rare and exceptional instances which will not
admit of the short delay of a reference to this office. Gen.
Peel trusts that the foregoing observations will lead to a
more clear understanding of the intention of the above cir-
cular, and will be sufficient to induce general officers to
exercise with greater caution than heretofore the powers in-
trusted to them by it. "13. HA.wEs."

HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE

WEEK.

(From the Registrar-General', Report.)
The returns for last week indicate a favourable
state of the public health. In the week that ended
March sth the deaths registered in London were
1,215 ; in the three weeks that followed they ave-
raged about 1,160; in the week that ended last
Saturday they declined to 1,067, of which 603 were
deaths of males, and 464 those of females.
In the 10 years 1849-58 the average number of
deaths registered in the weeks corresponding with
last week was 1,400 ; but, as the deaths in the
present return occurred in an increased population,
they can only be compared with the average raised
in proportion to the increase—namely, with 1,540.
The result of the comparison is, that the deaths of
last week were less by 473 than the number which
the average rate of mortality would have produced.
This reduction is due in part to the fact that, by an
improvement in the working of registration, deaths
on which inquests have been held are now regis-
tered soon after they occur, and therefore with
greater uniformity throughout the quarter, for
violent deaths were last week 49, whereas the cor-
rected average for the last week of the quarter in
previous years is 128 ; but after making due allow-
ance for this circumstance, the chief part of the
decrease in the deaths registered must be assigned
to a comparatively good condition of health among
the population.
Scarlatina was fatal last week in 56 cases, dipth-
theria in 13, showing in the two diseases together
but a small decrease on recent weeks. The deaths
from diphtheria occurred in the following sub-
districts :—St. Paul, Hammersmith, 1 ; St. Mar-
garet, Westminster, 1 ; St. Mary, Marylebone, 1 ;
Christchurch, Marylebone, 1; Islington West, 1;
Islington East, 1 ; Haggerstone West, 1 ; St. Olave,
1•, Borough-road, 1 ; St. Peter, Walworth, 2 ;
Waterloo-road, first part, 1; Kennington, first, 1.
There were 15 deaths from smallpox, all, except
three, among children. A man, aged 72 years, died
in Grosvenor-street West of English cholera, after
an illness of seven days.
Last week the births of 952 boys and 885 girls,
in all 1,837 children, were registered in London. In
the 10 corresponding weeks of the years 1849-58
the average number was 1,807.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.622 in.
The readings varied from 29.03 in. to 30.16 in. The
mean temperature of the week was 42.6 deg., which
is 0.7 deg. below the average of the same week in
43 years (as determined by Mr. Glaisher). On
Sunday and Monday the mean temperature was
about 7 deg. above the average ; on Wednesday and
two following days it was from 6 deg. to 9 deg.
below it. The thermometer in the shade attained
its highest point on Tuesday—viz., 56.5 deg. ; it
fell to its lowest point, 25.3 deg. on Friday, or 6.7
deg. below the freezing point of water. The range
of temperature in the week was therefore 31.2 deg.
The mean daily range was 14.5 deg. The difference
between the mean dew point temperature and air
temperature was 6 deg. The mean degree of
humidity of the air was 80 deg. ; on Wednesday
and Saturday it approached the point of complete
saturation—viz., 100. The mean temperature of
the water of the Thames was 47.8 deg. The wind
blew generally from the south-west. The sleet or
melted snow measured on Wednesday was 0.50 in. '
The snow began to fall soon after noon on that
day ;. after two hours it remained on the ground,
and increased to the depth of 6 in. The temperature
fell to 32.4 deg. at 3. h. p.m., and continued at that
point till 8 h. p.m.

gr GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION.—The Government
emigrant ship Clara, 708 tons, Captain Joseph B. Plug,
which sailed from Southampton on the Ist of October, in
charge of Surgeon-Superintendent Henry Lannigan, with
42 married couples, 61 single men, 78 single women, 23 boys
between the ages of 1 and 12, 30 girls between the same
ages, six male and three female infants, making a total of
285 souls, equal to 2581 statute adults, arrived at Adelaide,
South Australia, on the 20t„12 of January.