The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-02-08 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

DROWNING IN INLAND WATERS. It appears from a parliamentary return moved for last session by Hugh Birley, Esq., M.P. for Manchester, that altogether 2662 persons were drowned during the year 1877 in the rivers, canals, and lakes of England and Wales, excluding Scotland and Ireland; and this, probably, is the average number drowned every year in those waters. It is now nearly thirty years since the Lifeboat Journal first called public attention to the great loss of life from shipwreck that occurred every year on the coasts of the United Kingdom, mainly for the want of adequate means to save them. Since that period, however, these means have been so amply and efficiently supplied by the National Lifeboat Institution and the Board of Trade that we can now with confidence assert that hardly a single life is lost from shipwreck on our coasts which can by any human means be saved. We venture to express a hope that the period is not far distant when it may be said with equal precision and truthfulness that no lives are lost from drowning in our inland waters Which can by any possibility be restored to life. Meanwhile, it is our duty to direct attention to the following facts concerning the distressing loss of life from drowning in various districts as detailed in the parliamentary return to which we have already referred. In Warwickshire 23 were drowned in rivers or running waters, 42 in canals, and 9 in lakes or ponds. In Leicestershire the numbers were 10, 12 and 6 respectively. On analysing the summary, we find that 2140 males and 522 females were drowned in 1877. This great difference in the number of the sexes who were drowned can partially be accounted for by the nature of their respective employments. The ordinary vocations of women do not expose them to any constant risk from water, while those of men, navigating steamers, barges, and lighters, and acting as stevedores, perpetually expose them to hazard. Again, a large number of the deaths from drowning among men is probably due to to accidents while bathing, or fishing, from which women are practically exempt. Then, again, of the 522 women whose deaths are returned, it is more than probable that somewhat more than half that number had committed suicide. Running waters claim 1423 victims, canals 637. and lakes and ponds 602. It is remarkable to observe from the return the number of little girls who tumble into the water, and who are drowned. Seventy-one such deaths occurred during 1877 in rivers, 40 in canals, and 65 in lakes and ponds. The higher proportionate percentage written down against canals is due, no doubt, to the fact that in all poor and populous suburban districts the canal bank is a favourite playing-ground for the children of the poor. Thus 286 lads under twelve lost their lives in rivers, 150 in canals, and 193 in ponds and lakes. The general effect of the return is once more to impress the importance of learning to swim. Of the 629 lads under the age of twelve who are reported as having been drowned during the year, not one in twenty was probably able to swim.—Lifeboat Journal.  The coal trade of Leicestershire is reported active. Steam coal is improving in demand. There was no advance in prices on the Ist February.