The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-14 00:00:00

PUBLIC HEALTH.

In this department Mr. J. S. HAMMACK read a
paper on " The relation between density of Popu-
lation and the mortality from Consumption." Con•
sumption increased with the density of population.
In suburban situations there was less mortality
than in the crowded town districts ; and the large
town districts showed a larger death-rate from con-
sumption than thinly populated districts. The in-
creased mortality arose from impure air—dwellings
and workshops being generally overcrowded. The
remedial measures he proposed were better venti-
lated houses, public parks, &c. If these-measures
were adopted tubercular disease, which caused the
loss of 100,000 lives annually in England, would in
a great measure be removed.
In section B, Miss JESSIE PARKES read a paper
on the market for educated female labour. An-
other by Miss Jessie Boucherette, on the industrial
employment of women, was read by Mr. Wilson.
The two ladies lamented , the present condition of
educated women in regard to employment, and
urged the claims of governesses, &c., on society.
BRADFORD MECHANICS' INSTITUTE.

Last night a meeting took place in St. George's-
hall, in connection with the Mechanics' Institute
of Bradford, Lord Brougham in the chair, when the
prizes given by that institution and by the school
of arts were awarded to the successful members.
The hall was crowded in every part, a very large
portion of the audience consisting of the working
classes and their families. It was arranged also
that at this meeting the prizes offered by Mr. John
Cassell, the publisher, for the best written papers
by working men, or the wives and daughters of
working men, upon the subjects of Social Science,
should be given to the successful competitors.
The Secretary of the Bradford Mechanici' Insti-
tute having given some account of its origin and
progress,
Lord BROUGHAM, after expressing the gratification
which he felt in addressing so large a meeting, in-
cluding so great a proportion of the working classes,
said he had no conception before his arrival in Brad-
ford of the flourishing state of its Mechanics' Insti-
tution. It appeared to stand among the very first
in paint of success. In every one particular since
its formation there had been an increase—in mem-
bers, in books, in attendance on the library, and in
the character of the books for which there was a
demand. (Hear, hear.) But that which chiefly
delighted him was the groat proportion of working
men who took an interest in the institution, the
working men connected with it amounting to two-
thirds of the whole members. This was a satisfac-
tory circumstance, for it was always feared that
mechanics' institutions, though established for the
working classes, would prove more beneficial t'
other classes than to them, and this had generally
turned out to be the case. Well and rightly had
the working men of Bradford judged in consider-
ing that this institution was for their highest in-
terests, and he hoped they would go a step fur-
ther than they had yet gone, and appoint
committees to canvass their fellow-workmen
to join the institution. (Cheers.) In so doing
they would be able to tell them that this was one
of the best modes of elevating them in the scale of
society. It was by these means that many great
men had risen from the humblest beginnings. What
eChheeedirse.)d,
did they think was a
livedHe to see
working iocf, who, before befor(
the whole face of the world altered by his prodi-
gious inventions of various kindsen, particularly his
ine—Aeers
improvement
of the steam g )
everything
besides realising an =men se fmen ortunethat could
also tell their fellow working

4-11 em

which raised their influence tended to give
political power, for—
" Past experience tells on every soil
That he who thinks most governs those who toil."
(Cheers.) And when he said " governs," he di.a
not allude to the upper classes or to the middle ,1
classes only, for all those persons who were given
to thought and reflection were those who governed
the persons who merely. toiled. (Cheers.) It st (as satis-
factory to find that the issue of books from the library
was increasing year by year, but it was (still mcire
satisfactory to know that the books issued were be-
coming year by year of a superior sort, indicating
an improved state of mind and a more improved
taste on the part of the readers. (Hear, hear.) He
had ever been in favour of a large proportion of
working men being on the committee of manage-
ment of these institutions, and he thought that
reading-rooms and the like in connexion with
mechanics' institutions should be entirely managed
by working men. The opportunity and the habit
of reading in the evenings preserved them from
slumbering after their day's labour, or from drink-
ing, and saved to them their time, their money, and
their health. (Cheers.) Time was the money of the
working man ; and, as the proverb was, " Take
care of the pence and the shillings and the pounds
will take care of themselves ;" so, as to the work-
ing man's currency, which was his time, it might
be said, " Take care of the minutes and the
hours will take care of themselves." (Cheers.)
The noble lord then stated that, after the
Mechanics' Institution prizes had been awarded,
those given by Mr. Cassell would be distri-
buted to the successful competitors for the prize
essays. It was gratifying to him to say that, as
one of the judges, having looked through the essays
forwarded—nine-tenths of them written by work-
ing men—though in some of them the grammar,
and in others the spelling and handwriting, were
rather indifferent, yet that the whole contained an
amount of ability and information that was highly
creditable, while many were highly distinguished
for talent and information. (Cheers.)
The prizes were then awarded, several of those
given by Mr. Cassell having been gained by women,
the wives or daughters of working men.
Mr. CASSELL having explained the circumstances
under which the prizes were offered,
The Earl of SHAFTESBURY rose, and was loudly
cheered. If he looked at Mechanics' Institutions
(observed his lordship, after a few preliminary re-
marks) as great systems of education, as great
subsidiary means for carrying on the edu-
cation acquired in early life, and as a
great mode of civilising the masses of the
population,—enabling them to retain what
they had acquired—enabling them to add to
their stores of knowledge—then they had before
them a subject on which any one who felt the least
interest in the welfare of his countrymen might
descant for many hours together. He would spare
them that, however, and only make one observa-
tion on the prizes last distributed. He had the
honour of being one of the adjudicators, and he
must repeat and confirm the statement of Lord
Brougham, that all the essays submitted to his in•
spection were marked by sound morality, sterling
common sense, and an earnestness that was grate-
ful to his heart ; and, although it was perfectly
true that the composition was sometimes faulty,
the writing sometimes not easily legible, and the
spelling of a new order of orthography—(laughter)
—nevertheless he felt he might use the compliment
paid to a philosopher of old, with a slight altera-
tion, and say, that he would rather spell ill with
the vast majority of those men than spell well
with thousands and tens of thousands whom he
knew in states of life very far above them.
(Cheers.) After all, they had the staple, they
had the sound heart and true morality, and
they only required an occasional visit to the Me-
chanics' Institution to obtain good writing and
good spelling. (Cheers.) The only complaint lie
now heard of those institutions was that they did
not precisely answer the purpose for which they
were originally intended, and that they did not
educate and train the class for which they were
founded. This might be true of other counties in
England, but it was not so of Yorkshire. (Hear.)
And of this he was quite sure, that although the
system had failed as to the particular class for
which it was first intended, it had not failed alto-
gether, for thousands, and many thousands, were
enjoying its benefits. (Applause.) Let them re-
joice that these associations had been instituted, for
by degrees they would be extended so as to embrace
the class for which they were originally intended.
(Hear, hear.) His Lordship then mentioned the
importance of better buildings being provided for
these institutions, which he considered ought to
have a status and position in the eye of the people,
and possess abuilding which the working man might
call his own. This he considered, moreover, of
mush importance, because they must regard Me-
chanics' Institutions as the great means of counter-
attraction to the various temptations of vice and
licentiousness which would be found among large
populations. Lord Brougham was perfectly correct
in saying that these institutions, if properly used,
would be a great antidote to the gin-palace and the
leeershop, and he trusted, therefore, that there
would be no longer delay than was absolutely ne-
cessary in establishing amidst large populations
buildings suited to the purpose, where everything
that could be required—the lending library, the
reading-room, the coffee club, and everything which
amid give dignity, comfort, and solace to the work-
ing man after the period:of his toil, might be ob-
tained. He trusted that the working men would not
be satisfied on all occasions merely with going to the
reading-room, and there passing an hour in conver-
sation and the pursuits of literature, but that they
would take home choice works to read to their wives
and children, and thus enlighten, cheer, and he
might say sanctify, the domestic hearth, by
acting the patriarchal pare, and affording a
constant exemplification of that beautiful picture
of Burns's " Saturday Night." (Loud cheers.)
His lordship condemned most earnestly the reading
of the trashy novels which were issued in such pro-
fusion almost every day, and he continued by re-
marking that Mechanics Institutions were not
only grand supplements of the early closing move-
ment, which had already begun to pervade all the
towns of the empire—and God be praised for the
success it had enjoyed—but would prevent that
movement being perverted. To prevent its being
converted into affording an opportunity to go to
receptacles of vice, and folly, and peril, they must
have Mechanics' Institutions, and many other in-
stitutions of that description, which would profitably
occupy the working man—withdraw him from
temptation. (Applause.) He, therefore, rejoiced
much to see the thriving condition of that associa-
tion, particularly as it was situate in a manufac-
turing district, because, since the consummation of
that great measure which had given so much leisure
time to the operatives in those districts, it had be-
come necessary that they should have such oppor-
tunities as were thus provided, lest they should be
drawn into those abuses of time which they were
formerly told would be the necessary result of giv-
ing the people more leisure. (Hear.) He believed,
however, they would find that these leisure hours
were devoted to the most profitable uses, and that
men who had acquired a good and sound education
in early life would now, after, the hours of toil,
carry on that education so long as health and
strength should endure. (Cheers.) There was no
reason at all why labour should not be consistent
with literature and knowledge, and knowledge and
literature consistent with labour. (Hear, hear.)
That which kept the body in a healthy and vigo-
rous state also kept the mind in a healthy and vigo-
rous state; and when a man had once, by large
practice, acquired the habit of doing his work re-
gularly and systematically, he might often relieve
the monotony of one class of duty by the mind
dwelling on something which had perhaps been
the subject of the previous night's study, and might
thus pursue and carry to completion some object of
his mind at the same time that he was toiling in
the ordinary labour of the day. (Hear, hear.) He
believed they -would live to see, under the blessing
of Almighty God, the working classes brought to
that moral and physical condition the,, longed for,
for he assumed they had sense enough to know that
the security of this empire consisted in the good
condition, bodily, mentally, morally, and spiri-
tually, of all the people. (Cheers.j With these
views they must all heartily labour and pray for
the extension of that and all similar institutions,
and in the language of Scripture earnestly desire
" that they will spread their branches into the sea
and their boughs into the rivers" (Loud cheers.)
His lordship concluded by moving the following
resolution :
" That this meeting desires to express its sympathy with
the great work of popular education, and recognises the
progress which has already been made as an earnest of
still further success."
Mr. M. 1). HILL seconded the resolution, which
was carried,
3r.
J. NAPIER. moved " that the meeting re-
garded with the deepest satisfaction tie efforts of
mechanics' iustitutions and of every kindred so-
ciety," which was also carried.
Mr. E. BAINES shortly addressed the meeting,
which separated at 10 o'clock.
CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE.

_ .
While the above meeting was going on a conver-
sational meeting of delegates from th Chambers of
Commerce and other similar bodies was held in the
saloon of the hall, Mr. Ripley, banker, in the chair.
A conversation took place on the position and stand-
ing of Chambers of Commerce, and the best mode
of increasing their influence. Some of the dele-
gates expressed an opinion in favour of their being
incorporated by charters from Government, and it
was suggested that they should in some way or
other be recognised by Act of Parliament as bodies
to be consulted by Government on commercial clues-

`ions. The little influence they possessed was Con-
-,ted with the great influence exerted by Chem-
tra, - ' Commerce on the continent, and the idea
hers o.
•=ted of their being invested with judicial
was sugge, t-her members deprecated anything like
powers. OL. --ters, and argued that all that was
d czbini4i9n. among them-
requiredGovernment cha.
ons:tit being urged that
was union a... 1
o.listen to the opi-
sGelovveesnmx:f-cailaslvayseady
merce on.
..
nions expressed by Chambers of Co.'"'.
ng judicial
com-
mercial questions. The idea of conferil'
nowers on the chambers, it was contended, would
b-atinued for a considerable time, but, as the
ghed at by Parliament. The conversaton
wea:s.`kel.
subject oi-
.
incorporation of Chambers of Com-
merce be taken up at one of the sections, no
definite conch
M. Milnes, M.P.,
To-day, as ai_ready stated, Mr.
asion was come to at this meeting.
read a paper, the
the ;Bari of Shaftesbury
and Punishment,'
chair. in George's-hall, on " Reformation
ation
Mr. MILNEs beg an
a reft-rene: to t
stem of punis days of
h-
judicial torture and the rigorous sj.
he
other countries, and gave an account of the
system of transportaticen in modern
days. That
ing offsnders pursue d in former times in this and
system, and how
to ask was in what way
-
system had now ceased to exist, and the question
they had been compelled
they could improve their penal
they were to make up for the advantages they had
lost in the cessation of penal settlements in the
colonies. The discontinuance of transportation had
roused the country and the Government to a full
consideration of the treatment of prisonerS, and how
they could best hold out to a criminal who had
worked out his penalty the hope of restoration. If
this question were treated properly, he was not cer-
tain that in the end the country would not be a de-
cided gainer by the discontinuance of transporta-
tion. The old system of cruelty and neglect pursued
in our gaols had now disappeared, and the security
given to life and property depended on the manner
in which we could act on the moral consciousness
of the criminal, and the channels of future restora-
tion which we could keep open for those who had
undergone the penalty imposed for their offences.
(Hear.) He looked on the reformatory treatment as
in itself just and wise, independently of any results
whatever. (Hear, hear.) He believed that in the
eyes of the great Searcher of Hearts repentance
was more grateful than untempted virtue. (Hear,
hear.) It was a remarkable circumstance that on the
anniversary of American Independence on the 4th
of June the prisoners in some of the gaols took part
in the demonstrations of the day. To us this ap-
peared grotesque and extravagant, but to that coun-
try we owed the solitary system, and he must say
that in the very exaggeration which attended it he li
saw something to respect. (Hear.) Those who be-
lieved that criminals had not altogether forfeited
their social condition—that there still remained
something about them to be tended and matured
into good, something to be recast and recovered—
had a right to assume that they were still fellow-
citizens even in their own persons, and not insen-
sible to all the obligations of their country. (Hear,
hear.) After referring to the influence of the sepa-
rate system on criminals, and the benefits which
resulted from it, the hon. gentleman said the
management of prisons had sometimes been con-
trasted with that of the asylums for the relief of
the poor, and among others by Mr. Carlyle with
whom he was at direct issue on this question. It
should be recollected that the advantages found in
the prison which so forcibly struck the mind of Mr.
Carlyle had no attractions whatever for the ordi-
nary criminal (hear, hear), and that just in so far
as these advantages became agreeable to him they
might assume that better influences were getting
dominion over him. (Hear, hear.) To say that he
liked regularity, a life of constant labour and clean-
liness, and +Drier, and sobriety, was to say that he
had begun to lay the foundations of a good charac-
ter. (Hear, hear.) But, after all, had not the
scheme of " righteous vindication" had its fair trial;
and was there a disposition anywhere to go back to
the old rigorous systems, still less to resort to the
slave galleys of a neighbouring country ? (Hear,
hear.) On the other hand, the new system of treat-
ment had everything to recommend it. There was
not a step taken in the system that was not founded
on experience, and drawn from the deep well-spring
of common sense. (Hear, hear.) Some time ago
the panic about ticket-of-leave men was at its
height, and it was quite as just and undiscriminat-
ing as panics usually are. Indeed, it was difficult
to see how the general fear was to be allayed, ex-
cept by the continual incarceration of all criminals
whom the colonies refused to receive. (A laugh.)
In the committee of the House of Commons, which
by its report gave the death-blow to all hopes of a
return to transportation, he recommended the
adoption of an intermediate stage of confinement
before the criminal was driven out upon the world.
His recommendation was not followed, but he could'
point to instances in which the benefits of such a
mode of treatment had been in the highest degree
successful. He might refer to-what was taking place
at Wakefield as an example. And there was one
adult reformatory which had received pecuniary aid
from the State, in which such an arrangement had
been most satisfactorily carried out. He alluded to
the combined work of Captain Crofton and Lord
Carlisle. In the establishment in which their
efforts had been carried out, 2,000 prisoners had
been subjected to the intermediate System ; and
out of 1,000 liberated on licence only 59 had their
licences revoked, 21 of them being for irregularities
and conduct not criminal. (Hear, hear.) Out of
700 discharged only eight had been again convicted,
a most signal contrast to the state of things under
the old system of punishment. (Hear, hear.) He
could not help alluding to the former treatment of
criminal children. The very mention of such words
seemed ludicrous. (Hear, hear.) Men got so ac-
customed to the sight of children as forming the
family of a gaol that they ceased to wonder at it.
A child once there seldom left it long during his
short life, and he became in fact a prisoner of the
State, more costly than the man who had honour-
ably earned his pension in the service of his coun-
try. When in 1849 a bill was introduced by an in-
dependent member to alter this state of things it
was described as a presumptuous and speculative
piece of amateur legislation. (Hear.) The Secre-
tary of State opposed the bills, and even the Presi-
dent of the Association for the Promotion of Social
Science declined to support it. (A laugh.) But
there were men who would not let the old state of
things continue, and the reformatory treatment of
childhood was introduced. (Hear.) The hon.
gentleman, after a reference to the system at Met-
tray, spoke of the danger of making too much of
the love of approbation in the treatment of the in-
mates of reformatories. In an English reformatory
the main impulse of life must be a clear sense of
duty and a strong conviction that the right thing is
the best thing to be done—(cheers)—not to desire
even for that glory which has been well defined as
a "deified vanity." (Hear, hear.) What they had
to do in these institutions was to see that the labour
was remunerative, that there was a personal super-
vision of a certain number of inmates, plain and
earnest teaching, and a drawing out of the affec-
tions of childhood. The hon. gentleman then went
on to express his regret that advantage was not
taken to man the navy and army from such persons
as might be obtained from the Akbar reformatory ship
at Liverpool. Such an employment was free from all
the difficulties that beset the engagement of boys
from reformatories in domestic service. (Hear, hear.)
He did not wish to see the boy from a reformatory
in an exceptional position. He should fall into the
ranks of men subsisting on honourable labour, de-
pending on his own exertions, not on patronage.
(Hear.) In course of time his past would be for-
gotten, and if he rose in life there would be no sus-
picion that he cored his elevation to his faults or
his weakness. (Hear.) This kind of restoration
he regarded rather as formation than reformation,
and prevention rather than cure. (Hear.) They
gave the child the child's punishment, and they en-
deavoured to see what could be best done for him.
(Hear) With regard to the present payment for
the support of such children as these, he attached
so much importance to it that he regretted to see
the Poor Law relief brought as a reason against it.
He thought that if parents obtaining parochial re-
lief were unable to support their children in the re-
formatories, the charge should lie on the parish, -
with a resource on their part against the parents.
(Hear.) He asked whether the time had not come
when this reformatory system should pass from
voluntary effort to the superintendence and support
of the State. (Hear.) The hon. gentleman then
reviewed some of the projects put forward for the
prevention of crime. Among these ,he noticed the
proposals made to enforce abstinence from spiritu-
ous liquors. In this he could not concur. It had
never been the habit of the British Legislature to
attempt to limit vicious principles or passions, so
long as they did not lead to the disturbance of pub-
lic order. Nor were they in the habit of enforcing
particular views upon a minority. It should be re-
membered, too, that nature provided a E evere net, i -
bution for intemperate habits, and he doubted
whether the use of intoxicating liquors led so much
to grave crime as was usually represented. Be-
sides, were Lord Brougham and he to be allowed
their port and sherry, and the poor man deprived
of his beer ? (Hear.) They must prevent crime
by education, and refo:ru it in punishment, and there
our age would be no less famous for its victories
over the moral than over the material world.
(Cheers.)
The sections then met, and were sitting when
OM parcel left.

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WRECK OF THE STEAMER EXPRESS.

SOUIHAMPTON, THURSDAY.
This morning tite inquiry adjourned from yester-
day was resumed at the Town-hall, before Mr. J.
Bernard and Captain Engledue, magistrates, and
Captain Harris, nautical assessor to the Board of
Trade.

Joseph Knott, second engineer of the Express,
gave evidence confirmatory of that given by the
previous witnesses. lie had made 70 or 80 passages
to and from Jersey, and gone through the channel
in question between :5 and 30 times, under the
command of Capt. Harvey and two other captains.

Wm Rivers, seaman, :vas on deck when the Ex-
press ,struck. She struck on a rock with two heads,
the name of which he did not know. He saw the
rock four or five ships' length off. The ship did not
strike against the high double-headed rock (the
Frouquis), but a small outlying one. The captain
motioned his hand for the helm to be starboarded,
and cisied out starboard," but the ship did not an-
swer the helm, and struck against the rock, about
three or four ships' lengths off the double-headed
rock. Was quite sure the vessel did not pass its-
side the Frouquis.
Corp Allix, pilot, of St. Helier's, Jersey, stated
that he knew the coast well, and the different rocks
in the neighbourhood. Was acquainted with the
usual channel taken by vessels in coming and going
from Jersey. Going from Jersey to Southampton
there is an inner passage between the Jaileurs and
the Costlier° rocks. The Bon and other rocks were
called the Jaileurs. The channel lies between the
Bon and the Frouquis, and was used by sailing
vessels and steamers according to the time of tide.
It was little less than a quarter of a mile, Both
rocks were visible when the tide was about two
hours' flood. No rock was visible between the Bon
and the Frouquis, excepting one close to the Bon,
bearing E.N.E., which was sometimes awash at
low water and spring tides. The channel between
Frouquis and the mainlaud was navigable at cer-
tain times of the tide. There was a depth of
about seven feet at two hours' flood in this
channel. He knew no sunken rock between Bon
and Frouquis on- which a ship might strike.
the channel was quite clear. There was at times a
ground swell, which takes place suddenly. He did
not know where the Express struck. A ship might
strike, with a heavy swell on, on the sunken rock to
the eastward of Bon. It was neap tide on the
20th of September, when there would be less chance
of a ship striking than at the springs. In that chan-
nel the tide rises three or four feet at two hours'
flood, the total rise being 14 or 15 feet.
William Moon, quartermaster of her Majesty's
ship Dasher, deposed to having been on the Jersey
station 20 years, and was well acquainted with the
east end of the Jersey coast. He was a passenger
by the Express at the time of the accident. The
steamer passed through the inner channel, between
the Corbiere and the Frouquis. Never went through
there but once before. -Witness noticed the Bon
rock on this occasion, and had particular reasons
for doing so. When rounding the Corbiere he was
standing under the bridge, and heard the captain
ask John Brett to go aft and give the man at the
wheel a heave, as he was going through a short cut.
Witness then walked forward to the bow on the
port side. George Brett, who belongs to the Cus-
toms at Jersey, was with him. Witness leaned over
the bow, and looked aft to observe the captain's
motions, in order to take notice of the passage they
were going. At this time they were quite near to
the usual passage through this channel. He ob-
served the captain hold out his right hand, and the
vessel's head payed:off, and brought first the Bon and
then the Frouquis rocks on the port bow. The cap-
tain's hand dropped, and witness thought the ship
was going an unusual course that he had never seen
or heard of before, and he made an observation to
that effect to George Brett. The ship was then
going at full speed, and the captain on the bridge.
Almost immediately afterwards witness looked over
the bow, and saw what appeared to be a rock, owing
to the discolouration of the water on the port bow.
The Frouquis rock was brought a little abaft the
port paddlebox, 80 or 100 fathoms off. The ship
immediately struck with a slight touch on the port
bow, and about two or three seconds afterwards a
-heavier blow. The Bon rocks were nearly astern,and
farther from the ship than the Frouquis. They were
between the Frouquis and the main land. There
was a ground swell, but if the Express had been
going between the Bon and the Frouquis rocks he
did not think it would have caused her to strike.
Capt. J. Ramon, deputy harbourmaster at Jer-
sey, gave it as his opinion that if there had not been
a ground swell the ship might have passed safely.
It was generally considered that when they could
leave the harbour of St. Heliers it was safe to take
the Jaileurs passage.
The inquiry was again adjourned to Saturday.