The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-08 00:00:00

HAY MARKETS.

30s to £2 Os per
ItOo £t
o 5 £6Os Os°
d
SKITHFIELD.—OId Meadow hay, £2 Os
newns doe..: X££2siloOss
toto
£s£4 Ooss ;; oalnddcslottvaewr
,doz. 11
load. A slow trade.

CUMBERLAND.—OId Meadow hay, £2 5s to £5 Os; sew
do., £2 lOs to £4 Os : old clover, £3 lOs to £sl7s ; new do.,
£3 lOs to £5 Os; and straw, £1 lOs to £2 Os per load.
Trade dull.

WHITECHAPEL.—OId Meadow hay, £2 Os to £5 Os Od;
new do., £2 10s to £4 Os ; old clover, £3 lOs to £6 Os Od;
new do., £3 lOs to £5 Os; and straws £llos to £2 Oa per
load, Trade very inactive,

On Tuesday his Royal Highness Prince Albert,
accompanied by their Royal Highnesses the Prince
and Princess of Prussia, the Princess Alice, and
Prince Arthur, visited Portland. The Royal
party landed at the Breakwater at 1.30, and were
received by Mr. Coode, the engineer of the Break-
water works. Prince Albert, the Prince of Prussia,
and Prince Arthur, with Mr. Coode, proceeded at
once to the works at the Vern, and were met by
Major Nugent, commanding officer of the Royal
Engineers, who conducted their Royal Highnesses
to the batteries in course of construction under the
Cliffs of Portland. Their Royal Highnesses then
ascended the hill, and were met at the entrance
to the Vern Ditches by Captain Buller, in charge
of the convict establishment, the Rev. Mr. Hill,
and Dr. Sidwell. After making a minute inspec-
tion of the extensive works, ditches, fortifications.
and casement barracks now in course of construc-
tion, chiefly by convict labour, the Princes re-
turned to the Royal yacht, and embarked for Os-
borne at 4.30.

BRIGHTON RACES.—(This Day.)

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
PAVILION PLATE.

_
Rockley • 1
Overton OO a• •
Lopcatcher

TILE BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY

BILL.

The following are some of the most important
changes made in the law :—Non-traders are to be
liable to the bankruptcy laws in respect to future
debts. The seizure and sale of the goods of a debtor
under an execution for a debt above £5O will be an
act of bankruptcy, and all such sales must be by
public auction, duly advertised. Percentages are
no longer to be taken from bankrupts' estates, and
the official assignees and messengers are to be
greatly reduced in number, and paid by fixed
salaries. At the first meeting under a bankruptcy,
the creditors may remove the proceedings to any
County Court, or, if they think fit, determine
to wind up the estate under a private arrange-
ment, and also decide whether the bank-
rupt shall have any and what allowance for
support. The official assignee is to collect the
debts not exceeding £lO, and the Court is to order in
whose custody the books and papers belonging to
the estate shall be deposited. The creditors are
to determine whether tho estate shall be realised
by any official assignee or assignees chosen by them-
selves, and in the latter case may allow them the
assistance of a paid manager. All moneys received
by the assignees are to be forthwith paid into the
Bank of England to the account of the accountant
in bankruptcy, and in country districts where
there shall be no branch of the Bank of England,
then into such other bank as the Court shall direct.
The creditors' assignee must every three months
submit a statement of his accounts, with vouchers,
to the official assignee for examination, and after
such accounts have been passed the official assignee
is to send a printed copy thereof, or a statement
showing the nature and result of the transactions
and accounts of the assignee, to every creditor who
has proved under the bankruptcy. The proof of
debts may be made by sending to the assignee
through the general post a statement of such debt
and of the account, if any, between the creditor and
the bankrupt, together with a declaration signed by
the creditor that such statement is a full, true, and
complete statement of accounts between them.
False declaration is to be a misdemeanour. All state-
ments of accounts are to be compared with the books
and papers of the bankrupt by the assignees. The
classification of certificates is abolished, and the
bankrupt after the passing of his last examination
is to be entitled to an order of discharge, Very
stringent penal clauses are provided, and for a
variety of offences the Court may summarily order
imprisonment for any period not exceeding one year,
or may refuse or suspend the order of discharge, or
attach conditions thereto as to future property. For
offences made misdemeanours under the act bank-
rupts may be tried in the court, with or without a
jury, at the option of the bankrupt, and on convic-
tion may be imprisoned for any term not exceeding
three years, and be liable to any greater punish-
ment attached to the offence by any existing
statute. The Court may direct the creditors
assignee, official assignee, or any creditor to act as
prosecutor, and the costs of such prosecution will be
borne in the same manner as the expenses of prose-
cutions for felonies are now borne ; and other costs
incurred by such prosecutor not so defrayed are to
be paid out of the Accountant-General's Fund.
Most important facilities are afforded to enable a
debtor and his creditors to effect private arrange-
ments under trust or composition deeds. A majo-
rity of creditors in number, including three-fourths
in value, may, on execution of a deed of arrange-
ment, and registering it in the Court, bind a mino-
rity, and are to have the use of the Court in all
cases in which they shall require its assistance to
decide questions as to disputed claims, or any dif-
ferences that may arise between the parties inte-
rested
in the debtor's estate. The Court is not, how-
ever, to interfere in any manner except its aid is
invoked by some person having a direct interest in
the matter. Every deed of composition must be
registered. There can scarcely be a doubt that these
alterations in the law will not only greatly lessen
the expenses attending bankruptcy proceedings, but
will be most acceptable to the mercantile classes,
releasing them from the official trammels with which
those proceedings have hitherto been invested. It
is believed that a bill will be brought in next ses-
sion to consolidate the law in one statute.

THE INCOME AND PROPERTY TAX.

THE BEGISTRAR-G-ENERAL'S ANN UAL

_RETORT.

The twenty-second annual report of the Registrar
General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Eng-
land, has just been published. In 1858 the names
of 335,446 men and women were inscribed on the
marriage registers ; of 689,881 children on the re-
gisters of births ; and of 440,781 parsons of all ages
on the registers of deaths. The total number of
names enrolled during the year amounted to nearly a
million and a half (1,466,108). On an average of
twenty-twoyears there was 1 death to 45 living in
the population, 1 birth to 30 living, and 1 person
married to 61 living; and these proportions in the
year 1859, became 1 in 45, 1 in 29, and 1 in 59; or,
more exactly, the mortality on the population was
2.236 ner cent. on an average, and nearly the same
(2.232) in 18:59 ; the average birth rate was 3.305,
the rate in 1859 being higher (3.494) ; the average
marriage rate was 1.636, and the rate in the last
year also higher P 698.
The marriages in the year exceeded by 11,653
the marriages in the preceding year; the births
were 34,400 in excess ; and the deaths 8,875 in
defect. Consequently, the excess of births over
deaths in the year was 43,275 above the excess
in the preceding year, and amounted to 249,100!
This was the natural recorded increase of the
population of England and Wales. The emigrants
of English origin amounted to about 40,245. To
this extent, therefore, the natural increase is
diminished by emigration. Upon the other hand,
while the Emigration Commissioners record the
departure of 120,432, they record the return of
19,913 emigrants to the United Kingdom; and
there is probably a constant influx of the popu-
lation of Scotland and Ireland into England and
Wales ; so that the census alone will enable us to
strike the exact balance.
167,723 marriages were registered in the year ;
136,210 according to the rites of the Established
Church, and 31,513 not according to those rites. Of
the marriages in the Church, 19 were by special
license, 20,345 by licence, 107,737 by banns, and
4,204 upon superintendent registrars' certificates.
The clergy omitted in 3,905 cases to state whether
the marriage was by licence or by banns. The
marriages by banns increased more rapidly than
the marriages by licence, and were in proportion to
those by licences as 5,296 to 1.
Of the marriages not according to the rites of the
Established Church 12,519 were by Protestant Dis-
senters, 7,756 by Roman Catholics, 70 by Quakers,
and 324 by Jews ; 10,844 marriages, exceeding
those of the Roman Catholics, were performed in
superintendent registrars' offices.
137,000 bachelors married as many spinsters in
the year, and 8,161 widowers married the same num-
ber of widows ; 7,058 bachelors also married widows,
and 15,493 spinsters married widowers; conse-
quently, 23,654 widowers and 15,219 widows re-
married. Of 100 men marryi`eg, 14.10 were
widowers ; of 100 women marrying, 9.07 were
widows. 10,397 young men and 32,041 young
women under 21 years of age married in the year ;
so of 100 men, 6.20, and of 100 women, 19.10 were
minors.

44,807 men and 63,127 women signed the married
registers with marks ; so that of 335,446 persons
in the prime of life 227,512 could write their names
more or less distinctly; and 107,934 signed with
marks, or 32.2 per cent. signed with marks. Of the
women, 37.6 in 100, of the men, 26.7 in 100 signed
with marks; so that the women do not write in the
same proportion as men. It is gratifying to trace
the progress of education since 1841, when 32.7
men and 48.8 women in every 100 signed with
marks, to 1859, when the proportions fell to 26.7
and 37.6 respectively ; so that of persons at the
age of marriage, 6.0 more men, and 11.2 more
women in 100 now write their names than wrote
18 years ago.

4,228 places of public worship were open for
the solemnisation of marriages, and registered on
31st December, 1859. This number exceeds by
156 the number on the register at the same date
of the previous year. The marriages were most
numerous after harvest in the Christmas quarter
of the year, and in the spring quarter of the
year, and in the spring quarter, including the
months of April, May, and June. The marriage
rate is lowest in the Lent quarter, ending in
March, when the produce of the year is partly
consumed.