of more than a mile from the spot. It was found that
fifteen passengers were injured, several of them
dangerously, and one of them, a boy of twelve years old,
was not expected to recover. After the accident Mr
Crowshaw, the clerk in charge of the station at Bolton,
went to the house of the pointsman, Lee Bancroft, and
asked him how it was he had not the signal lighted.
Bancroft replied he did not know. He had put the
light out at a quarter before nine o'clock, as usual, and
then went home. On being asked if he had received
a copy of the notice mentioned above, he replied in the
affirmative, and said he had read it and the instructions
at the foot. He assigned no reason for neglecting
them, but said he did not think he was required to
remain after a quarter to nine o'clock, which was his
usual time for leaving. Mr. Crowshaw, however, told
him he was to blame for leaving the signals when
excursion trains were expected. About half-past twelve
o'clock the same night, the unfortunate man was found
suspended by his neckerchief from a large nail which
he had driven into the top of his wooden sentry-box.

SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL
PROGRESS.

The Registrar General's Return for the quarters
ending March and June 1852, has been published. It
comprises the births and deaths registered by 2190
registrars in all the districts of England during the
spring quarter ending June 30; and the marriages in more
than 12,000 churches or chapels, about 3228 registered
places of worship unconnected with the established
church, and 623 Superintendent Registrars' offices, in
the quarter that ended March 31. The return of
marriages is not complete; but the defects are
inconsiderable, and approximative numbers have been supplied
from the records of previous years.

The Marriages in the quarter ending March 31 were
32,933, consequently in the three months 65,866 persons
were married; this slightly exceeds the numbers in the
corresponding quarter of 1851, and is 10,906, or one fifth
part, more than the numbers married in the winter
quarter of 1847. The rate of marriages, after allowing
for increase of population, is found to exceed the average
of the season, and is only less than it was in the winter
quarters of 1846 and 1851. The excess is distributed
over nearly all the divisions of the country, but is most
conspicuous in London, where the marriages in the
winter quarter increased from 4377 in 1849 to 5576 in
1852. Marriages increased in St. George Hanover
Square, and in Hastings, Brighton, Bath, Clifton, and
other watering-places. The marriages in the south-
eastern division also increased in Surrey, Sussex, and
Hampshire; decreased in Berkshire. There was an
increase in Oxford and Cambridge; in Colchester and
in Norwich; in Malmesbury and in Bradford (Wilts);
also in Exeter; in Redruth, Cornwall, and in Bristol;
in Hereford, Shrewsbury, and Stafford; in Wolstanton,
and Burslem, among the Staffordshire potteries. The
marriages in Birmingham were 390, or 44 less than in
the previous winter. In Leicester and Nottingham the
number of marriages has for the last two years exceeded
the average. The marriages in the last quarter were
also over the average in the districts of Derbyshire, in
Stockport, Liverpool, Prescot, Wigan, Warrington, and
Manchester. In Sheffield marriages were numerous;
in several districts of Yorkshire below the average. In
the northern counties the marriages exceeded the
average; in Wales they declined from 1930 in 1851 to
1804 in the winter quarter of 1852.

The Births of 159,136 children, born alive, were
registered in the quarter ending June 30. The same
number, within two, was registered in the spring
quarter of last year. The proportion of births to the
population since 1849 has greatly exceeded the average
of previous years.

As the births in the quarter were 159,136, the deaths
100,813, the Increase of Population by natural causes
is 58,323. The increase in the previous quarter was
55,094; in the corresponding quarter of 1851, 59,499.
In the quarter ending June 30, 1852, 125,112 emigrants
sailed from the ports of the United Kingdom, at which
there are emigration agents; 21,890 sailed from Irish
ports; 8687 from the Scotch ports of Glasgow and
Greenock; and 94,535 from English ports—namely,
3224 from PIymouth, 15,304 from London, and 76,007
from Liverpool. It is known that a large but unknown
proportion of the emigrants from Liverpool are of Irish
origin, but the birthplace is not distinguished in the
abstracts.

The Price of Provisions has varied little during the
quarter; mutton and beef have, however, been a little
cheaper than they were in the previous quarter: the
price of wheat remains 40s.10d. a quarter.

With regard to the State of the Public Health, the
report gives the following particulars: The deaths in
the spring quarter were 100,813, and the mortality was
at the rate of 2.227 per cent, per annum, which is
slightly above the average of the season. The excess of
deaths was chiefly in the town districts, which still
maintain their fatal pre-eminence over the country in
destroying the lives of the population. The rate of
mortality in the 506 districts, comprising chiefly small
towns and country parishes, was 2.052; in the 117 town
districts 2.436; so that out of the same population for
every four deaths in the districts where the air and
water are comparatively pure, there are nearly five
deaths in London and our other towns, where all the
sanitary arrangements are still left so imperfect that
no improvement sensibly affecting the rate of mortality
has hitherto been effected. In the three months
that have elapsed 48,357 deaths have been registered
in the town districts in the place of 40,000, who
would have died if the mortality had not exceeded
two per cent.; a standard of salubrity by no means
high or unattainable. The season has been unusually
cold, but food has been abundant; and from the
notes of the registrars generally it may be inferred
that the people are actively employed. Small-pox,
scarlatina, hooping-cough, and typhus have prevailed
to some extent, not only in London, but in many parts
of the country; and persons with families, who are about
to visit strange districts in search of health, will obtain
information from the notes of the registrar, or by local
inquiries, which may prevent their exposure to local
epidemics. Much good has already been effected by the
enforcement of sanitary regulations in lodging-houses.
The registrar of North St. Giles says: "There is a
decrease of one-fifth in the deaths, as compared with
those of the corresponding quarter of last year, which I
attribute to the sanitary arrangements enforced by the
police, in making the landlords of the houses in Church
Lane, and the Rookery, whitewash and cleanse them,
and not allowing above a certain number of persons to
sleep in the lodging-houses." The registrars of St. Ann,
Nottingham, and of Cardiff, in South Wales, have
recorded similar good effects from the supervision of the
low lodging-houses. Public attention has been before
called in these periodical reports to the neglect and ill-
usage of children in the large towns of the country, and
more particularly in Lancashire, where the mortality of
children under five years of age is twice as high as it is
in the healthiest counties, and much higher than it is
in London.

The ceremony of Placing the First Pillar of the New
Crystal Palace at Sydenham took place on the 5th
inst., in the presence of a large and distinguished
company. Mr. Laing, the chairman of the company,
officiated. A bottle containing coins, and a paper
containing the date and other particulars of the
commencement of the edifice, having been placed under the
pillar, it was screwed down by Mr. Laing, who
afterwards addressed the assembly. The ceremony
was followed by a collation, and speeches from Mr.
Scott Russell, Sir Joseph Paxton, Sir C. Lyell, and
other gentlemen. During the fête, a model of the
structure was exhibited, with various plans and designs,
which warrant the expectation of a higher artistic
effect than that obtained in the strictly utilitarian
building in Hyde Park. The roofing of the whole nave,
as well as of the transepts, will be arched; the height
of the transept will be increased by some sixty feet;
towers will be added, terraces, and vast arched
embrasures; the general effect being greatly improved