The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 29, 1844,

per or equitable than that railway proprietaries, to
whom the public ere indebted for the invaluable be-
nefits of the present rapid transmission of correspond-
ence and communications between all parts of Great
Bi itain, should be well and even liberally rewarded
for the arrangements which have been made to ac-
complish objects so desirable. But it must be re-
membered that, however desirable in themselves, these
objects were not the main ororiginal ones proposed by
the projectors of railroads, in those magnificent con-
structions. The carriage of the mails can be re-
garded simply as an indent, for the purposes of
which their scheme of operations, and the materiel
and service of their roads, were quite available. In
like manner, in the case of each railroad, the amount
received from Government for carriage of mails can-
not be legitimately considered in any other light than
as a mere subsidiary heal of income. The direct
expenditure and contingent charges incurred for mail
carrying by any railroad company, will form but a
very inconsideral3le proportion of their general outlay,
in the first instance, even. After these arrangements
and details are established and in working order, the
current expense of them will be but fractional, com
pared with the returns on that total expenditure, of
which their provision forms a part. Thus the act of
conveying mails by railways is a very different affair
from that of their conveyance by the highways and
roads on the old system, unler which every incidental
expense is special and continuous—as relays of horses
for the mail coaches, exclus:'vely, forage, wear and tear
of carriages, harness, carriage-lighting, &c., &c. We
apprehend that, in France, the Government contract
with the railway lines for transmission of mails is on
very moderate terms indeed. Whether we look to
this analogy, or to the nature of the negotiations
which Mr. Labouchere, when in office, opened so
properly and carefully with various railroad proprie-
taries on the subject, we cannot repress our astonish.
ment at Ending in the returns in question, so vast an
annual charge, for the carriage of mails by rail, is
85,0001.

MORTALITY IN THE METROPOLIS.—The return for
the week ending, Saturday, March 23, is very favour-
able, showing a decrease-of Bas compared with the pre-
vious week, 28 less than the average. The total number
was 981, while but a few weeks since it exceeded 1,200.
In epidemic diseases, including small-pox, measles,
typhus, and scarlatina, the number was 190, average
170 ; diseases of the brain 167, average 163 ; of the
lungs 309, average 330. Of the latter the following is
an analysis :—Bronchitis 34, average 19 ; pneumonia
78, average 91 ; asthma 26, average 45 ; consumption
147, average 146. Only four died of influenza ; old age
carried off 79, average 88 ; and 23 died from intempe-
rance, privation, and violence. Of these seven were from
burns and three from suicide ; and of the 22 persons
who died of small-pox 17 had not been vaccinated. The
thermometer was highest on Friday, the 22d, 494 de-
grees, and lowest on Thursday, the 21st, 29'0 degrees.