The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-06-27 00:00:00

Bed characters and persons
without visible means of
support .

.... 719

3,000
Thus, in one word, there are 689 families, or less than
one-fourth, who are at the same time moral. and able
to obtain permanent means of support ; there are 2,311,
or more than three-fourths, who are either immoral,
or who cannot obtain a regular subsistence ! it is obvi-
ously the former, to whom the instructor of any kind will
address himself, with reasonable hope of success. If should
state, however, that the whole of these 3,000 families are
Irish; and that upon them' the disasters of undue immi-
gration fall primarily and most heavily ; but secondarily,
the whole members of the unskilled labouring clase, what-
ever their country, are affectedday it, and the entire grade
of society is lowered by the operation of a constant force
in the downward direction.

One other goint requires to be noticed before the gene-
rat result canhe stated : it is the shortness of life among
t'h'e poor. lam convinced that few think of this at all ;
and fewer still'know how the facts stand.
From a table given in the last Report of the General
Board of Health, just issued, it appears that the ave-
rage age of all who die in England is 31 years and 1 month
This fact should: be carefully brae in mind. In 1317 it.
was 29 years and 4 months.* Bat in the district of St.
German's and Liskeard, in Cornwall, the average rose to
42 years 11 months ; the highest to be found in any of our
counties. In Lancashire, the highest average was. at
threrstone; where it reached 41 years 8 months ; and the
lowest at Liverpool, where it was less than the half, being
20,years and 5 months. The, %west county in England
was Lancashire, and the lowest district in Lancashire was
Liverpool. The average for the whole county of Lancaster,
22.'years 10 months, was far below that of St. Giles's in
London (28 years 4 months), and scarcely reached.that of
the very lowest district in the metropolis [St. Luke's, 22.
years 8 months]. Of about 3049 districts in England and
Wiles, there were only 7 that fell below Liverpool, and
these were all mining or manufacturing districts-t
NOw, no one will pretend to say that Prince's-Park is.
an unhealthy district, or. Abercromby-square,_ or Edge--
hill; or. Everton,. Kirkdale ; there must, therefore; be
a fearful amount of mortality somewhere in the -town,. to
drag down our averages almost to the very bottom of they
scale.. The conclusion a priori is verified by filet. Of all
the persons who died in the year 1853, after having,
received medicine or medical relief, at the St.. Anne's.
pensary, the average•was 14 years and 11 months. They
were of all ages; but even if it could be shown,that there
is some unfavourable fact in the calculation, it can be
equally shown that this is not the worst, district of the
town, but lies above Scotland-road, which, is• generally
regarded as the upper limit of the destitute or perishing
poor. The subject is so deeply important,. that I venture
to. quote the whole passage—"Amongstthemany patients
of public institutions, those who are relievedorcured, are
most frequently spoken of, while thosewho die are apt to
be forgotten ; this however, is not well, for if rightly
remembered, they leave behind them stale. which contains
an important lesson for the living, as the following state-
ment will show :—During the year- 1863, 208 deaths have
occurred amongst the patients of this institution, and the
extremely short average of life which these poor people
have enjoyed, affords a striking picture of the approach to
that minimum in the duration of existence, which may be
arrived at amid the associations of poverty, and the un-
favourable conditions both physical and moral, which too
often attend it, even in populous and wealthy cities. The
average length of life here alluded to, is less than 16 years,
(14 years and 11 months,)- which is nevertheless greater..
than the average of previous years, for the improved
sanatory condition of the town has no doubt told upon the
length of life of the industrial classes of this neighbour•
hood, in a slow but gradual and favourable manner during
the last five years r—it is, however, painful, as yet, to con-
template the narrow limits within which circumstances,
with the Divine permission, seem in this class to measure
the duration of life."—Report, pp. 7, 8•

Thus, then, there is a district of death in the town,
where the labours of the schoolmaster, philanthropist, and
clergyman are called for by the most imperious necessity,
and yet where they produce only very limited results.
The investigation respecting mortality may be made in
classes instead of geographically, and the result is the
same. For example, if we take the members of the
Society of Friends, the average age at death of all who
are born, is upwards of 52 years, or nearly double the
average for all England and Wales. In London, the
average age at death of the gentry is 44, of the respecta-
ble middle classes, 28 ; of tradesmen, 25 ; and of artisans,
22.§ But we have here been examining the case of
classes below all of these, "in the lowest deep a lower
, deep," viz., iu a less healthy district, the physical labourer
only ; and that same man with partial food, poisonous
atmosphere, and no comforts. To thousands of the strug-
gling members of our great community, the words of the
Psalmist have a fearful and literal application—" Like
sheep they are laid in their graves, death shall feed on
them."

" The improved sanatory condition of the town," alluded
to in the quotation from the report of St. Anne's Dispen-
sary, requires to be noticed. A great deal has been done
in the direction of improvement ; but, with evils of such
magnitude to be overcome, many years must elapse before
they can be said to be more than mitigated. It is said
that at the present moment Liverpool is more healthy
than Manchester, but it is probably Salford that is
meant. In 1817 the average duration of human life in
Manchester was greater than that for the whole county ;
whereas Salford was at the bottom of the scale, Liverpool

Tables of Vital Statistics,published by order the Commit.
tee of the Health of Towns Association, 1847.

Dud
West Bromwich, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Stourbridge,
Dudley, Bradford, Merthyr Tydvil. The average at the last
of these places %vas 18 years 2 months.
Tables of Yitet Statistics, B;c., 1847,