The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-05 00:00:00

HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE WEEK,

I(From the Report of the Registrar-General.)
The sudden increase in the deaths of London which
was announced in the last bill of mortality, has been
followed by a more remarkable decrease. The fol-
lowing numbers show the fluctuations in the returns
during the four weeks of November :-921, 908,
1,016, and in the week ending last Snturday, 861.
The average of the 10 weeks corresponding to last,
in the years 1840-49, was 1,067, which if corrected
for increase of population is 1,164 ; the 861 deaths
registered last week are therefore less than the cor-
rected average by 303. It will be seen from a state-
ment of the deaths in three periods of life, that the
young, the middle-aged, and persons of advanced
years, now participate in an improved state of health :
Average of 10
Last week. corresponding
From birth to 15 years 410 Weeks (1840-49).
503
15 years to 60
60 and upwards
• • 218
But notwithstanding the great decrease in the pre-
sent return as compared with that of the previous
week, it appears that in the class of zymotic or epi-
demic diseases the number remains nearly the same.
The aggregate of fatal cases by epidemics was in the
preceding week 203, in the last 196 ; whereas in
affections of the respiratory organs, the number,
which rose to 201, has now fallen to 160. Consump-
tion, which stands in the tubercular class, was 111,
and in the-following week declined to 96. " Convul-
sions," which carried off in the previous week 44
children, was reported last week as the cause of death
to 35 ; and while 48 persons died of " Age," only 24
cases this week are placed under this head. Between
the 21st and 28th of November 8 pensioners died in
the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, in most cases of
paralysis or apoplexy. Last week the deaths from
small-pox amounted to 14, all among children ; and
though it is still below the average, the disease
appears to he making progress in the metropolis. In
Mary lebone, in different houses of a single
sub-district, that of Christ-church, no fewer than
six deaths occurred from " variola natural " in the
week ; and the registrars repeatedly mention facts to
prove that the children of the working classes in
many cases, are not protected against the disease
owing to the prejudice entertained against vaccina-
tion. Measles carried off last week 25 children, and
it is stated to have broken out in the Pancras Work-
house (Camden Town sub-district) ; scarlatina car-
ried off 30 ; and 47 persons of various ages died of
typus. Diarrhoea has now declined to 13, and no case
of cholera was registered.
Intemperance was fatal to three persons; in one
case by producing disease, in another by an embroca
tion taken internally by a man when in a state of in•
toxication. In the third case—that of a woman whc
died suddenly without medical attendant—it is stated
that she had frequently been known to drink a pint
and a half of raw spirits in a day; a day or two be-
fore her death she drank seven quarterns of rum
whilst she did not consume a shilling's worth of fOOO
in the week."

The births of 773 boys and 709 girls, in all 1,482
children, were registered in the week. The average
of five corresponding weeks in 1845-49 is 1,280.

TRANSATLANTIC COMMUNICATION.

The Belfast Whig has the following statement :
" Two Galway gentlemen, the Rev. P. Daly, and
Mr. Edward O'Flaherty, brother of the member for
Galway, are at present on a short visit to Belfast, ex-
plaining a plan of rapid communication with Ame-
rica, Galway being the European terminus for the
Atlantic steamers ; and it is hardly necessary to state
that they have met the warmest encouragement from
the principal mercantile gentlemen of the town. It
is known that our Government are at present engaged
in considering the most suitable port of departure and
arrival on the west of Ireland ; and the strong pro-
bability is that Galway will be selected. Its western
situation, fine harbour, and railway connexion (to be
completed next summer) with Dublin, seem to point
it out as the place to be chosen. The Americans, on
their part, are not idle; and we have now before us
ample printed details, illustrated by a map, showing
the course of a railway formed for a considerable
distance, which, if carried out to the most con•
venient point in Nova Scotia, would reduce the At-
lantic passage to 2,000 miles, and, it is calculated, to
five days from the point of departure to Galway, and
the whole journey from New York to London to
seven days. In a petition from the citizens of Maine
to the Senate and House of Representatives of the
State, presented in the present year, the whole ques-
tion is gone into very minutely; and the following
paragraph from this document shows the calculations
with respect to time :--1 From New York to Liver-
pool, in the shortest line, is 3,100 miles; the route
usually traversed is over 3,300 miles. By taking the
railway from New York to Halifax or Canso, em-
ploying the swiftest steam-packets thence to, Galway,
crossing the Great Midland RRilway from Galway to
Dublin, a distance of about 120 miles, and thence to
Holyhead harbour, a distance of 63 miles, and thence
to London by the Chester end
Holyhead and
London and North-Western Itailwalit a dis-
tance of 263 miles—employing
about 1,200 miles
of railway, and 2,000 miles of steam navi-
gation—the passage from New
York to London
may be reduced to seven days' time at all events, and
Possibly to six days, within a few years at farthest.
This can only be achieved by shortening the sea
voyage, and dispensing
with the vast weight of coal
and other superfluous load now curried.' Thisis no
doubt a sanguine calculation ; but as the attainment
is
of such a result seems possible, the project encou-
raging. Even if we add one or two days of time,the
i
the electric
ld pour in, at the time
messengers from each side wou
acbievment would be splendid, the more especially
when we recollect that at each terminus
of departure, news of the previous minute from all
would, e
London and New York as regarded intelli
pwaarstsahoofuthte
tgoresattarcto.ntTinhenut
s,from which the steamer
the
distance between
gence, be reduced to the
five
or six days required
for crossing the Atlantic;
mightto it be expected, that
intelligence from St. P burgh to San Francisco,
or even from Constantinople
transmitted with the same rapidity.
eters

THE Hop DUTY —Wednesday week was the day
appointed for the payment of the last moiety of the hop duty
of 1848 and 1849. The inland revenue officers had
their sitting at the Cinque Porte Arms Hotel, Rye, where,
about noon, a considerable number of hop-growers had as-
sembled, and it was evident that they keenly felt the harsh
measure of the Government in requiring the moiety of the
1848 duty, knowing, as the Government must do, that a con-
siderable portion of the produce of that year was worth but
little more than the duty, to say nothing of the expense of
cultivating, picking, drying, warehousing, &c., of that crop.
With four exceptions, we understand that the duty of 1818
was not paid, notwithstanding the intimation of legal pro-
ceedings on the part of the officers of the Crown ; but we
take this opportunity of stating that this result arose en-
tirely from the want of means to meet the demand, and
unless a sacrifice had been made in the capital of the farmer
to a frightful extent in this neighbourhood, Should the
Government persist in enforcing the duty of 1848, the result
to all classes in this district will be distressing, and in some
instances ruinous. To the poor and labouring population
one of the worst winters for years will be experienced, and
the result must be the disorganisation of society and an in-
crease
of the poor-rates. With the Government must rest
the consequences of enforcing from an already impoverished
district upwards of 20,000/. where nothing has, in fact, been
produced for it as an equivalent,
papnrdlsvihvee axret,duatriionn.gthe last
two years, capital and labour hays been unprofitably absorbed
.by unrelnunerating produce al
THE - SAIPAER SUWCfP.-7-James Smith was nr-
baignecL, in 'llostMll a few! days sW99, slue siPg in the
Atteet,p! which is prohibiled., Tbe,Votirt fined Janies a few
.dollara„ james, dispOSed to pester the Court, tendered ihe
sum in PuPnies. The Court inthrthed the 'Ater that it 'had
,not time to Count the money then, and he might jug James
until he could spare time for that purpose. This was lighting
the cigar at the wrong end, and James was not long inten-
' dering the amount in =Mt bills of the Commonwealth."
—2‘frewl'orli Paper.