train reaching the platform he got out, and at the
moment of the collision was standing with his hand on
the carriage-door, whilst Captain Huish had his head out
of window conversing with him. A portion of another
carriage, lifted off the rails, struck him on the shoulder,
knocking him down, and he in turn knocking others
down who were standing near him. He rolled towards
the carriages still in motion, and had not a gentleman
seized him by the coat, he must have fallen under the
wheels and been cut to pieces. Mr. Currie is since dead.
A coroner's inquest on his body commenced at Weedon
on the 25th.

SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL
PROGRESS.

The Registrar-General's last Quarterly Return of
Marriages, Births, and Deaths, comprises the births
and deaths registered during the quarter ending
September 30th, 1851, and the marriages in the quarter
ended June 30th, 1851.

The marriages still exceed the average, but are less
numerous than the marriages in the corresponding
quarter of last year. The births continue to increase
rapidly, and the mortality is below the average. The
returns therefore present a favourable view of the state
of the country.

38,498 Marriages were registered in the quarter
ending June 30th. This is less by 520 than the number
registered in the spring quarter of 1850, but more by
3777 than the number in the spring quarter of 1848.
The marriages only amounted to 30,048 in the spring
quarter of 1842; they rose to 34,268 in the spring
quarter of 1844; to 37,111 in the spring quarter of
1846; declined to 35,197 in 1847; and rose again to
39,018 in the spring quarter of 1850. Every marriage
is the establishment of a family, and is generally the
result of some deliberation; it is not surprising, therefore,
that the prosperity of the country and the prospects
of the people should be expressed pretty accurately by
the fluctuations in the marriage returns.

While the marriages increased rapidly in some parts,
they were stationary or decreased in others. In London
6515 couples were married, which exceeds the number
married in the summer of 1848 by 1106. In Surrey
out of London, in Sussex, Kent, and Berkshire, the
marriages were nearly stationary. In Hampshire they
decreased. In the South Midland, the Eastern Counties,
as well as in Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Devonshire,
marriage was stationary or decreased. In
Cornwall and Somersetshire there was an increase. In
Gloucestershire marriage was stationary. In Herefordshire
and Shropshire the numbers married were
unprecedentedly low. In Staffordshire, Worcestershire,
and Warwickshire—including the chief seats of
the Midland iron trade—the marriages increased. The
marriages rose from 383 in 1848 to 487 in Birmingham.
In Leicestershire, Rutlandshire, and Lincolnshire, the
marriages were below, in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire
above, the average number; the excess occurring
chiefly in the districts of Nottingham, Chesterfield, and
Haytield. The marriages in Cheshire and Lancashire
decreased. The decrease was considerable in Liverpool,
and greater still in Manchester. In the West Riding
of Yorkshire there is an excess; and this is most
conspicuous in Sheffield, where the marriages in the five
summer quarters ending June, 1847-51 were 283, 273,
289, 339, and 404. In Leeds, the marriages were 351
in the June quarter of 1848; 530 and 487 in the
corresponding quarters of 1850 and 1851. In Hull the
marriages increased from 147 in the June quarter of the
cholera year 1849 to 175 in 1850, but have fallen again
to 158. The marriages decreased in the North Riding
of Yorkshire, in Northumberland, and Cumberland;
increased in the coal districts of Durham. In
Monmouthshire and Wales marriages were less frequent
than in 1850.

It has been observed that the marriages increase after
a fatal epidemic; and in the present return the
marriages, it is seen, have been in excess generally where
cholera was most fatal in 1849.

150,584 Births have been registered in the quarter
ending September 30th, 1851. This is the greatest
number of births ever registered in the same season of
the yrar, and exceeds by 23,411, and 15,361, and 3614,
the births in the September quarters of 1847, 1849, and
1850. The births of 467,096 children have already been
registered, and it is probable that in the year the
numbers will not fall short of 600,000. The increase is
distributed over all the divisions of the country except
the South Midland.

In respect to Population, it is observed that, while
150,584 children were born and registered in the
summer quarter, 91,600 persons died; leaving an
excess of 58,984 in the population. The excess of births
over deaths in the first nine months of the present year
has been 170,411, which is probably more than equivalent
to the actual increase of the population. It is well
known that up to a late period there has been a
constant immigration of the Irish and Scotch into
England, which appears to have been fully equivalent
to the emigration of the English into the colonies and
to foreign parts; but no exact statistical information on
this subject exists. 85,603 emigrants left the ports of
the United Kingdom at which there are government
emigration officers in the quarter ending September 30th,
1851. This is at the rate of 930 a day; 6510 a week.
13,963 sailed from Irish ports, 4318 from Glasgow and
Greenock, and 67,262 from three English ports, namely,
10,062 from London, 2799 from Plymouth, and 54,401
from Liverpool. Many of the Irish emigrants are
returned at Liverpool. Of the total number 68,960
emigrants sailed to the United States, 9268 to British
North America, 6097 to the Australian colonies, and
1278 to other places. The emigration has hitherto been
greater in 1851, than it was in the corresponding
quarters of 1850.

The Health of different parts of the country differs
widely, and the difference is greatest in summer. In
the ten summer quarters of 1841-50 the mortality in
506 districts, comprising, when the census was taken,
10,126,886 people, was at the rate of 18-15 in 1000
annually; while in 117 districts, comprising the chief
towns, and 7,795,882 people, the mortality was at the
rate of 25 in 1000 annually. Thus, at least, 7 in every
25 deaths which occur in towns are the result of
artificial causes. The mortality in the quarter ending
September, 1851, was at the rate of 23 and 1793 in
1000 in the two groups of districts; it was a little below
the average in the country, and considerably below the
average in the towns. The annual rate of mortality
per cent, in all England was, on the average of ten
summers, 2.099; in the summer quarter of 1851 it was
2.020. London has enjoyed a degree of health above
the average in the last summer quarter; 13,064 deaths
were registered, which is a less number than was regis
tered in the summer quarters of 1847 and 1848, and
half the number (27,172) registered in the summer
quarter of 1849, when cholera was epidemic. During
the three months of July, August, and September,
more people have passed through or resided temporarily
in London, with its 2,361,640 inhabitants, than ever
passed through any city before in the same time. The
past experience of large armies, or of the pilgrimages of
the cast and of the middle ages, might have justified the
sinister forebodings which some entertained; but the
railways and the improvement in sanitary arrangements
have now rendered it possible to move the masses of
men about in thousands and millions without danger
to the public health, as the event has here proved.
The South-eastern division of the country has been
less healthy than last year; diarrhœa, typhus fever,
and scarlatina being prevalent. The South Midland
division was generallv healthy. Oxford suffered heavily;
Cambridge, on the ether hand, was unusually healthy.
In the Eastern and the South-western divisions the
mortality was below the average; in the West Midland
and North Midland, the health was as good as usual.
The North-western division constantly sutlers more than
the other divisions of England; but in this summer it
is above its own average. The registrar of the division
says—"The improved health, and, it may bo added,
temper of the people of the district, may assuredly be
ascribed to the cheapness of provisions, which are not