23 AUGUST 1856, Page 2

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The return of the Registrar-General for the week en shows a decline in the sanitary condition of the Metro her of deaths was 1250, " whereas the corrected average of mg eight weeks of previous years, when cholera was n

on Saturday

. The num- e correspond- t epidemic, is 1127. In the second week of August 1849 and 1854,, cholera was epidemic, and the deaths amounted to 2230 and 1833. Slimmer cholera now prevails to a slight extent, and was fatal in 22 cases ; diarrhoea was fatal in 253 cases : 242 children died of these diseases under the age of ten ; 11 of the adults were under sixty years, and 22 were sixty jr-ears of age and upwards." The ravages of diseases natural to man, says the. Registrar-General, "are greatly aggravated by the physical impurities of the atmosphere seen from a distance hanging in a cloud over London." He thus enumerates three of the principal causes of impurity ; and suggests the remedy— "The smoke of our manufactories has been rendered less dense than it was by Lord Palmerston's Act. It will ascend as dark as ever in winter from the fires of 340,000 houses; but Dr. Arnett has shown that the evil may be greatly diminished, and by the mere modification of lighting the fire from the top much of the smoke is burnt. The dust of the principal streets, which are now covered with horse-dung, watered every day, and beat up by omnibuses, may be got rid of by frequent cleansing and by new processes. The railways which traverse the Southern, the Eastern, and the Northern parts of London, would, if extended to the centre and the West, not only relieve the thickest thoroughfares, but facilitate the movements and the traffic of the populations dwelling in houses which it was computed at the last census could be all visited by going over something more than 6563 miles of ground. The third class of atmospheric impurities is invisible ; but it arises from the long retention of the excrement of London under the houses and in the sewers. According to the estimate of Mr. Lewes, London could supply the farmers of England daily with 29 tons of ammonia, 61 tons of carbon, 14 tons of phosphates, 32 tons of mineral matter, and 14 tons of other matter; making in the aggregate 140 tons of dry manure, dissolved naturally in about nineteen times its weight of water. The country re- quires this precious manure, which London is anxious to get rid of at any reasonable cost, as it is now known to be as insalubrious as it is offensive.

" The problem for the engineer to solve is, how can 3000 tons of town guano be returned daily to the disinfecting soil, from which it was chiefly taken, with the least offence to health, and with the least cost? Shall it be distributed by pipes, or by railways? Shall it be disinfected by water, earth, ashes, or any chemical compound ? Under the present arrangements, some hundreds of thousands of tons of this matter lie in store in London ,/

putrefying in cesspools and percolating the streets, while the residue is thrown into the Thames at great cost. All these impurities of the air we breathe in London have evidently a naturals, tendency to increase more rapidly than the population ; and can only be removed by the vigilance, in- telligence, and energy of the Boards of Works."

The final correspondence between the Lord Mayor and the Prefect of the Seine on the subject of the inundation-subscriptions has appeared in the papers. It appears that the sum transmitted by Lord Mayor Salo-- mons to Paris amounted to a total of 765,000 francs. Baron Haussman warmly acknowledges this "large expression of sympathy."

The Pocr-law Board has recently been compelled to order two special inquiries into the condition of St. Pancras Workhouse, and the mode of distributing out-door relief. The result exposed many evils ; and the Poor- law Board allowed the local authorities two months to deVise remedial measures. When that time had elapsed, they caused another report to be made, and from this it appeared that only partial remedies had been applied. The Poor-law Board have therefore notified to the Directors, and Guardians of the Poor, that they intend to issue the following orders —" One faxing the maximum accommodation of the workhouse and of its several wards respectively ; one regulating the management of the work- house, and prescribing the duties of its officers ; and a third containing rules for the administration of out-door relief." In a further order they will authorize the appointment of an auditor.

At the Court of Bankruptcy, on Saturday, it was settled that the estate of the Hemel Hempstead and Watford Bank shall be administered under the arrangement clauses. The debts are about 67,0001. ; the assets, 45,000/. ; the difference will be made up by the executors of Mr. Whittingstall, less the amount of the new debts contracted since his decease.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Tuesday, James Railton, formerly a stock-broker, pleadedguilty in two charges of forging transfers of Consol Stock to the amount of 7001., and to forging a receipt. Sentence was post- poned. On Wednesday, Joaquim Savella a Peruvian, was convicted. of having in his possession a number of forged Peruvian Bonds. He employed a printer to engrave fac-similes of signatures to be printed on forms of bonds, other portions of which had been printed in Brussels and in Paris. It was stated that Savella was in partnership with several other men in the forgeries, a joint capital having been subscribed too provide the money to pay the ex- penses of effecting them. On Thursday, Mr. Justice Martin passed an exemplary sentence. One Wilkinson was convicted of having threatened to accuse a parish-clerk of an unnatural offence : the Judge sentenced the false accuser to penal servi- tude for life.

The Attorney-General is to conduct the prosecution of Mr. Gosling for i misbehaving in Regent's Park; and the ease has been removed by the prosecution from the Central Criminal Court to the Court of Queen's Bench by writ of certiorari.

Mr. George Fossey, a timber-merchant of Milwall, has been remanded on bail by the Lord Mayor on a charge of conspiring to cheat Mr. john Walker, corrugated-iron merchant. It is alleged that Fossey, by collusion with Neary, a clerk of Mr. Walker, systematically charged that gentleman for timber which was never delivered, . or for larger quantities than were sup- plied—in one month Mr. Walker paid 2204 for timber he 14..not received. A warrant has been issued for the apprehension of Weary,. who had been committed for a charge of embezzling Mr. Walker's money, but who is out on bail.

The extensive shoe-numufactory of Mr. Golding, in Church Street, Shore- ditch, was burnt down early on Sunday morning. Three persons in the upper part of the house, one of them a cripple, were in great danger : they were rescued, however, by the promptness and bravery of Conductor Barton with the Royal Society's fire-escape—Barton has saved many lives.