The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-24 00:00:00

IRISH DIOCESES.

The census returns of 1861 give the following account of
the number of persons belonging to the Established Church
—men, women, and children all told—in the several dio-
ceses of Ireland. The Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of
all Ireland, who is also Bishop of Clogher, is returned as
presiding over 150,778 souls, being rather more than 23
per cent, of the entire population of the two dioceses. The
Archbishop of Dublin with the diocese of Kildare annexed
is returned as presiding over 112,766 souls, being a fraction
over 18 per cent. of the population of those two dioceses ;
the Bishop of Down and Connor, 108,993 souls, being
nearly 20 per cent. of the population of those dio-
ceses ; the Bishop of Dromore, Derry, and Raphoe,
110,425 souls, being above 17 per cent. of the
population. These four are the only prelates having
in their dioceses belonging to their Church so many as
100,000 souls, or so large a proportion as a tenth of the
population of their dioceses ; they are the dioceses
comprising the Irish metropolis and the north-west, and
including 42 per cent. of the population of Ireland. Of
the other 58 per cent. the census tells a different tale. The
best return is that for the united dioceses of Kilmore,
Ardagh, and Elphin, shewing 53,196 souls—men, women,
and children—belonging to the Established Church, being
less than 10 per cent. of the 547,891 inhabitants of those
dioceses. Next stands the Bishop of Ossory, Ferns, and
Leighlin, presiding over 35,663 souls, being between 8 and
9 per cent. of the population of the dioceses. The Bishop
of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross is returned with 43,228 souls,
or a fraction over eight in a hundred of the people.
The Bishop of Meath, 16,289 souls, being above 6 per cent.
of the population. Last come four dioceses containing
together above 1,600,000 souls, nearly 28 per cent. of the
population of Ireland, and each of the four having less
than one in twenty of its population belonging to the
Established Church. The Bishop of Killaloe, Kilfenora,
Clonfert, and Kilmacdaugh is returned as presiding over
15,906 souls, or 4'71 per cent. of the population ; the
Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe, 15,103 souls,
or 3'83 per cent. of the people ; the Bishop of Cashel,
Emly, Waterford, and Lismore, 13,853 souls, or 313 per
cent. of the inhabitants ; and the BiShop of Tuam, Kil-
lala, and Achonry, 17,157 souls, being 3'37 per cent. of
the populati n. in e Cle returns were made, the popula-
tion of Ireland has become less by about a quarter of a
million,

THE YORKSHIRE LAMBING SEASON.—The lamb-
ing of the Leicester ewes is now at the full, and farmers
generally say the season is one of the greatest promise.
The weather could not possibly have been finer, and the
yield is excellent, single lambs being quite a rarity. There
has been very little mortality, so far, among the ewes.
THE SUSPECTED MURDER OF A BOY BY HIS
FATHER.--The adjourned inquest on the body of John
Thomas Woolcott, aged nine years, who met his death by
drowning in the Eegent's Canal, was resumed on Monday
in the Essex-road, Islington. The prisoner's mother was
examined, and said that her husband (prisoner's father)
was a lunatic. After some conversation as to the necessity
of having the prisoner present, and a reference to the fact
of the prisoner's eldest boy being missing, the inquest was
again adjourned.
THE DISTRESS IN THE EAST-END OF LONDON.
A meeting of the United Executive Committee for the
Relief of Exceptional Distress in the East of London has
been held at the Mansion House ; the Lord Mayor in the
chair. Mr. Haly, the hon. secretary, reported that
the total subscriptions to the fund had now reached
rather over £5,000, and that there remained a balance in
hand of about 52220. He also stated that Miss Burdett
Coutts had given another donation of £133 through the
committee to the Bethnal-green Employment and Relief
Association, in order to enable it to continue its opera-
tions until the end of March. Mr. Spence said, with the
small sum now in hand it would be useless to attempt to
distribute it among the various local districts, and he there-
fore suggested that it should be handed over to the East-
end Emigration Society, whose efforts a I bean st pped by
the formation of the United Executive Committee. Tnis
was agreed to, and that committee was recommended to
the support of the public. The Rev. Mr. Hansard said
he observed in the public press that it was stated that the
committee had proved a failure. He wished to state his
conviction that, however much it might have failed in some
people's opinion, it had demonstrated the fact that it was
quite possible for large parochial associations to co-operate
with a central executive committee, and that was worth
something. After considerable discussion the committee
adjourned sine die.
MR. JUSTICE MELLOR ON WORKHOUSE MIS-
MANAGEMENT.— Mr. Justice Mellor, in charging the grand
jury at the Liverpool Assizes, made some very strong and
indignant observations relative to the death of an infant
who had been scalded to death by an imbecile nurse in the
Wigan workhouse. His lordship said that he had read
the depositions with very great pain, for he found from
them that the prisoner charged with the crime was an
imbecile, perfectly unfit and incompetent to have anything
to do with children. One witness deposed that she had
frequently done the duty which devolved upon the imbecile
woman, because she thought her entirely unfit to have the
care of an infant child. It appeared to be the practice at
the Wigan workhouse that the halt, the lame, and the
blind—persons incompetent for anything—were put to
tender and difficult duties. He could not help thinking
that it was a very sad thing that the lives of the infants
in the infant ward at Wigan were entrusted, as it appeared
to him, to persons utterly unfit and incapable, simply
because they could discharge no other duty—not because
they were wholly unfit for that particular duty, but be-
cause they could do nothing else. He did hope that the
publicity given to this case would call some attention to
the management of the Wigan workhouse, because it was
impossible that those people in the workhouses could have
the same advantages and comforts which were obtained
by and which prevailed amongst people in independent
circumstances. Yet, because they were children of the
poor they were not to be handed over to persons who
were wholly unfit and incompetent for the management
of them.

NATIONAL EDUCATION.—A deputation from the
Corporation of Birmingham has waited upon the Right
Hon. B. Disraz:4., at his official residence, Downing-street,
and presented a memorial on the subject of national edu-
cation. The deputation, which was introduced by Mr.
Dixon, M.P., consisted of the mayor (Mr. Thomas
Avery), Alderman Sadler, Councillor Edwards, and
Mr. Standbridge, the town clerk. After a few words,
the Mayor read the memorial, which recommended the
introduction into Parliament of a comprehensive measure
of national education, based on local rating and manage-
ment.in union with State aid, and including compulsory
provisions directed against parents who neglected to avail
themselves of the means of education so afforded. • He
further illustrated the importance of a compulsory mea-
sure by a comparative statement of the numbers attend-
ing schools with those not receiving any instruction in the
town of Birmingham. Alderman Sadler mentioned that
the Factory Act had recently been extended to the trades
in Birmingham, and manufacturers had found it more con-
venient to discharge the children in their employ than
submit to the regulations imposed by the Act. Those
children were now wandering about the streets, and • the
corporation was utterly unable to provide them with
education. Mr. Disraeli expressed in warm and flattering
terms his pleasure at meeting the deputation. lie noticed
during the reading of the memorial that certain points
enforced by the corporation of Birmingham had also been
taken up by a deputation from Manchester a short time
ago. The deputation haVing thanked the First Lord for
his courtesy, withdrew,