Yiliort Unarm.

The report of the General Board of Health on the administration of the Public Health and the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts, from 1848 to 1864, has been presented to Parliament, and printed in due course. It is a bulky but not a clear and well-arranged document. Indeed, it is very tiresome to read, chiefly on account of the repetition and it is impossible to escape the reflection that it would have been much more effective had it been neatly packed into half the compass. The re- port begins by showing, what was shown with greater effect by Mr. Tom Taylor in his " notification," how great was the number that died of cholera in 1848-'49—not less than 90,000 in Great Britain—far in excess of the number of killed ashore and afloat during the last war ; how of that number 30,000 must have been adults; what a number, then, must have been pauperized, and so on. Then comes the question of prevention ; and it is elaborately made out, by comparison with other countries, that deaths are far fewer where preventive measures have been taken ; that at- tention to premonitory symptoms is the best preventive, and house-to- house visitation, together with dispensaries open day and night, the best means of enforcing and providing for such attention. Out of 130,000 persons discovered in the first stage of cholera and placed under treat- ment, 6000 were on the point of passing into developed cholera; but only 250, or 1 in 600, did so. Of 43,737 persons visited in London, 978 were

passing into developed cholera • but only 5 'aid therefore, the numbers that passed from the tenionitort..iat010 loped state ranged between 1 in 500 and 1 in 800, Simiti444141163' tended house-to-house visitation at Newcastle' and Stockton:-

authorities, instead of resisting the application of fatehtsfprpl,, 11) ;aid d in 1848, have recently applied to the Board for advice and assistance, and are anxious to give efficient action to its rules and regulations. It is ex- pected that the Ordnance will be ready to aid with the use of tents ; the tenting out of the population having been found of signal advantage. It is stated, that 284 towns have petitioned in form for the application of the act ; that in the cases of 182 the forms prescribed have been com- plied with ; in 126 cases surveys have been completed or are in progress ; that in 31, works to the amount of 467,0001. "are now, for the most part, in progress" ; and that in 13 towns the whole of the combined works for water-supply and drainage are completed and in full operation. The total cost of the works for the aggregate of the towns would be 4,833,9801. It is asserted that expense has been diminished both by improving the forms of procedure and looking more narrowly into the nature of the works. Drains not combined with adequate water-supply are condemned ; and a system of sewers graduated in size, arranged so as to concentrate and hasten the flow, impermeable and self-cleansing, is strongly recommended, instead of the old brick drains. In connexion with this system, great stress is laid upon the necessity of water-supplies, not derived from river and flood waters, but from soft perennial springs ; and as part of the system of combined works, the Board has endeavoured to connect it with plans for the application of sewer manure to agricultural production. With regard to water, it is asserted that local boards, under the Health Act, can furnish supplies much more cheaply than trading companies ; one great facility being, that landowners afford facilities for the collection of water on more reasonable terms to local bodies than to companies. After giving an elaborate description of the fatal results of unhealthy localities and dwellings, not only in causing death but in de- teriorating and demoralizing the race, the report estimates the annual loss from this state of things at 12,000,000/. ; a strong argument for preventive measures.

The latter half of the report consists mainly of a vindication of the Board from Parliamentary and other attacks, in which it is shown that the cost of formal proceedings under the Health Act is far less than under local acts; and that the works executed under the sanction of the Board are more efficient and less expensive.

The newly-appointed Commander-in-chief at Rio de Janeiro is Rear- Admiral Hope J ohnstone.

Professor Edward Forbes has been appointed to the chair of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, vacant by the death of Professor Jameson.

Lord Palmerston had a dinner-party on Saturday; and Viscountess Pal- merston afterwards had a crowded reception.

Sir Charles Wood had a dinner-party on Saturday : the Duke and Duchess of Wellington, and the son and grandson of Tippoo ,Saib, were among the guests.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer entertained the French Ambassador and the Countess Walewski at dinner on Wednesday ; and Mrs. Gladstone after- wards had an assembly.

The following articles of provisions of the best quality, for the use of pa- tients, have been put on board the hospital-ship Belleisle, Commander Hos- ken, now in Plymouth Sound, bound to the Baltic—beef, 50,000 pounds ; bread, 50,000 pounds; flour, 50,000 pounds; Scotch barley, 7000 pounds; essence of beef; 2000 quarter-pints ; and 87 gallons of white wine. She had also shipped for the use of the fleet—bread, 1000 bags ; salt meat, 250 tierces; spirits, 50 puncheons, and a proportionate quantity of all other kinds of provisions.

Mr. John Marshall, of Cupar Angus, who obtained a Civil List pension for the widow of the Ettrick Shepherd, calls upon the Government, through the columns of the Times, to augment the amount. The sum granted was only 501. a year; the people of Scotland think it ought to be at least 1001.

The Wellington Dock Bill has been rejected by the Committee of the House of Commons : while the effect of the acts passed in the last session for increasing the accommodation of the commerce of the port of London has been yet untried, and under the present circumstances of trade, they think it is not advisable to pass such a bill. The Wellington Dock was to have been constructed on the South of the Thames.

By direction of the Duke of Northumberland, a portion of the ancient castle of Warkworth is about to be restored to a habitable state, the restora- tions being made in the style of the old structure.

A portion of the King's Cross terminus of the Great Northern Railway is now illuminated by an electric light.

There are favourable accounts of the prospects of; the wheat, Lay, and apple crops, in the West of England.

A number of the clerks in the Bank of England recently engaged in the cultivation of moustaches ; the Governor objected, and issued an order that the clerks should shave or resign : the razor has been put in requisition. Some clerks on the Blackwell Railway have had to consider a similar alter- native.

With reference to the report in journals of last week, ascribing to " a cer- tain Plantagenet Harrison " the leadership of an alleged Greek conspiracy that was to have broken out into revolt at Constantinople, but did not, the personage referred to has written to the Times, denying all knowledge of any Greek conspiracy in Turkey. The letter is dated London, May 5," and is signed " G. H. De S. N. Plantagenet-Harrison, Marshal-General."

Result of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis for the week ending on Saturday last.

Ten Weeks Week of 1844.'53. of 1854. Zymotle Diseases 1,897 303 Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat 432 52 Tubercular Diseases 1,957 208

Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 1,158 In

Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 370 50

Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 228

Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 547 61 105 12 90 87 22 1 28 .... 5 214 95 214 32 467 45

80 .... 15 273 .... 43

9,519 1,283 Disc-yes of the Kidneys, he. ChiltThirth, diseases of the Uterus, he. Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, &c. Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, &c.

Malformations.

Premature Birth Atrophy Age Sudden Vioience,Privation, Cold, and Intemperance

Total (including unspecified tames)

Mr. Stephenson, the engineer of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, proposes to construct a tubular bridge over the St. Lawrence at Montreal ; the " estimated " cost of which is no less than 1,400,000/.

Besides gold, copper has been found in the Orange River Sovereignty, it is said in largo quantities on the surface. Precious stones and platina have also been found.

The electric telegraph between Agra and Calcutta is completed.

Statistics frequently appear showing how fast Canada is " going ahead." In 1852, her exports were 3,251,393/. ; in 1853, 5,502,7251.: in 1852, her imports were 5,071,6231. ; in 1853, 7,995,3591.

The St. George's Society of New York celebrated their saint's day by a grand banquet at Astor House ; where warlike speeches were made, and the banners of England, France, and Turkey, were interwreathed. Two Turk- ish Commissioners to the Exhibition were present ; as were also the repre- sentatives of the St. Patrick's Society—they not having the fear of Mitchel before their eyes : indeed, one of the "Sons of St. Patrick" gave the toast of " the British Lion of 1854."

A bill has been introduced into the Californian Legislature to exclude the testimony of Malays and Chinamen in cases where a White man may be a party.

"Property" in Alabama fetches good prices. The live chattels in human form on the estate of the late Edmund Townsend, 285 in number, recently sold for 207,195 dollars. A young man and his wife brought 3000 dollars ; two twin brothers 3700, and a brother and a sister of these proved nearly as valuable.

In Cincinnati a fire-engine worked by steam is used with much success. It weighs only four or five tons, and steam can be got up in the short space of seven minnntes. It is proposed to provide New York with similar en- gines.

The emigrant-ship which was lost, with all hands, on the coast of New Jersey, was the Powhattan, bound from Havre to New York. The number of the emigrants is supposed to have been three hundred. At the last ac- counts, 130 corpses had been washed to shore. The ship struck during the day ; and Mr. Jennings, the wreck-master on the coast, held conversations with the master of the ship, who urged him to save the lives of those washed from the wreck. But Mr. Jennings found that all these people were dead by the time the sea cast them to land. There were no hfe-lines and mor- tars near the spot ; they were sent for, but arrived too late. After immense numbers of persons had been swept from the ship, she broke to pieces, and the sea swallowed up every soul but one, a man who was delirious when he came to land. Mr. Jennings never witnessed such a dreadful gale and such a high-running sea. Other disasters more or less fatal occurred on the Ame- rican coasts.

The emigrant-ship Tonowanda, arrived at Philadelphia from Liverpool, had between forty and fifty deaths by cholera during the voyage. The Blanch, from Liverpool to St. John's, New Brunswick, lost thirty-five pas- sengers by the same disease.

It is feared that the City of Glasgow steamer has been lost on her voyage to America : nothing has been heard of her for sixty-one days.

The caloric-ship Ericsson has sunk off Jersey city, by a gust of wind caus- ing her to careen so much that the water entered a lower port which hap- pened to be open. The people on board had a narrow escape. She is in shallow water.

The town of Warrenton, in the State of Georgia, has been ravaged by a fire. The post-office, court-house, nearly every business house, and the best private dwellings, were swept away. The loss is estimated at 2,000,000 dollars.

large amount of property has been destroyed at San Francisco by a land- slide.

By a fire at Tobago, no fewer than sixty houses have been destroyed.