ports, during the same year, comprised corn and flour, British manufactures, colonial produce, &c., and were valued at 790,7657. The trade principally centres in Halifax, the capital. Subjoined is a table showing the number of ships, and their tonnage, which entered and left the ports of Nova Scotia in 1839: The number of vessels built in 1851 was 486, (tonnage 57,776,) and the number of boats 2,654. The means of internal communication have been much improved within the last few years, and a water communication has been effected between Halifax and Windsor; but the want of such communication is severely felt in the interior settlements. The constitution of Nova Scotia is a representative provincial government. The Lieutenant-Governor, who is subordinate to the Governor-General of British North America, is commander within the province; and the supreme civil as well as military authority under him, is a council of twelve members, of whom the bishop and chief justice are members ex officio, and the rest appointed by the Crown. The legislative assembly consists of a body of forty-one members, elected by 40s. freeholders. It is elected, like the British House of Commons, for seven years, but may be prorogued or dissolved by the Lieutenant-Governor. It meets every year, and all money bills must originate in this assembly; other bills require the consent of the Governor and council before they become law. For the purposes of election, Nova Scotia is divided into ten counties. The counties have two members each, and the other representatives are returned by the towns. Justice is administered by a Court of Queen's Bench, sitting at Halifax, and by district courts in the different counties. common and statute law of England are in force. The laws are, on the whole, considered judicious, and, as far as they go, calculated to promote the prosperity of the colony, but the harmony of society is too often broken by a love of litigation. The The revenue, amounting to upwards of 60,000l., is chiefly raised by duties of 21 per cent. ad valorem on property generally. Taxation is extremely light; the cost of defence being defrayed by Great Britain, and the inhabitants being burdened only with the civil government and local improvements. The military force consists of three regiments of the line, the expense of whose maintenance in England is estimated at about 120,000l. a-year. The Church of England is the established religion, and in 1838 the colony was divided into thirty-two parishes, each of which had a rector salaried by the Crown, or by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Nova Scotia was made a bishopric in 1787, the diocese extending over New Brunswick and Prince Edward's Island, Newfoundland, and the Bermudas. The subjoined table exhibits the various religious denominations into which the inhabitants of the province were divided in 1851 :— TABLE XII. It will be observed that one-eighth only of the population follow the persuasion of the established Church of the colony; that one-fourth are Roman Catholics; the remaining five-eighths of the population being comprised of upwards of ten other religious denominations, to each of which a complete toleration is granted. The number of churches is 567, or about 1 to every 500 persons. It has before been shown that each clergyman has a charge of 1,000 persons, consequently each has to serve two churches. The number of schools is 1,096, and of scholars 31,354. The principal college devoted to education is Windsor College, which is partly supported by the provincial government and partly by subscription. The annexed table gives the number of houses and buildings in the colony, distinguishing the inhabited from the uninhabited; also the number of families, &c. The inhabited houses give one to every seven of the population: a number a little in excess of that which obtains in England and Wales, where there are only 55 persons to a house. MISCELLANEA. PROCEEDINGS OF THE STATISTICAL SOCIETY. Seventh Ordinary Meeting. Monday, the 16th day of May, 1853. Sir John P Boileau, Bart., V.P., in the Chair. The following gentlemen were elected Fellows of the Society : Edward Horsman, Esq. The following Paper was read:— James Meikle, Esq. "On the Immediate and Remote Effect of the Remission of Customs and Excise Duties on the Productiveness of those Branches of the Revenue." Communicated by Dr. Guy. Eighth Ordinary Meeting. Monday, the 20th day of June, 1853. The Right Hon. Holt Mackenzie, V.P., in the Chair. William Beverley, Esq., was elected a Fellow of the Society. The following Paper was read: "On Freehold Land Societies." By Thomas Beggs, F.S.S. First Ordinary Meeting. Monday, the 21st day of November, 1353. The Rev. E. Wyatt-Edgell, V.P., in the Chair. The following gentlemen were elected Fellows of the Society : Captain B. J. Bell. W. P. Clirehugh, Esq. P. M. Dove, Esq. The following Paper was read: E. J. Farren, Esq. C. T. Lewis, Esq. The Hon. William Napier. "Résumé of the Statistical Congress held at Brussels, September 11th, 1853, for the purpose of introducing unity in the Statistical Documents of all Countries." By Leone Levi, Esq. Second Ordinary Meeting. Monday, the 19th day of December, 1853. The Rev. E. Wyatt Edgell, V.P., in the Chair. The following gentlemen were elected Fellows of the Society: G. P. Bidder, Esq. David Chisholm, Esq. Arthur Gurney, Esq. The following Paper was read: C. L. Lawson, Esq. John Lee, LL.D. Alfred Waddilove, D.C.L. "On the Duration of Life among Medical Men." By W. A. Guy, M.B. VOL. XVII. PART I. G THE MARRIAGES, BIRTHS, AND DEATHS, REGISTERED IN THE DIVISIONS, COUNTIES, AND DISTRICTS OF ENGLAND. The Marriages for the Quarter ended June, 1853, and the Births and AS PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL. This return comprises the births and deaths registered by 2,191 registrars in all the districts of England during the Summer quarter ended September 30th, 1853; and the marriages in 12,039 churches or chapels, about 3,424 registered places of worship unconnected with the Established Church, and 625 superintendent registrars' offices, in the quarter that ended June 30th, 1853. 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 exceeded the average in the quarter ended in June. For the quarter that ended in September 30th the births have also been above the average number, while the deaths have been fewer than is usual in proportion to the population. The mortality of the town population has experienced a marked diminution during the summer; but one town has suffered severely, and others are threatened by Asiatic cholera. MARRIAGES.-40,335 marriages were celebrated in the quarter that ended in June, 1853; a number exceeding by 328 the marriages in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The marriages in the spring quarter have thus gradually risen from 30,048 in 1842 to 40,335 in 1853. The increase of marriages within the last five years is particularly conspicuous in London, Cornwall, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Monmouthshire, and South Wales. Marriages, Births, and Deaths, returned in the Years 1841-53 and in the Quarters of those Years. YEARS...... 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851* 1852 Marriages Births Deaths 122496 118825 123818 132249 143743 145664 135845 138230 141883 152744 154206 158439 1853 MARRIAGES. Quarters ended the last day of March June September 24447 25860 25285 26387 29551 31417 27480 28398 28429 30567 32724 32933 35014 March June September BIRTHS. 133720 135615 136837 143578 143080 145108 146453 139736 153772 144551 157286 161776 161598 129884 134096 131279 136941 136853 149450 139072 149760 153693 155865 159073 159136 158718 123868 123296 128161 130078 132369 138718 127173 140359 135223 146911 150594 151193 147581 124686 124732 131048 130166 131219 139349 127267 133204 135471 146095 148912 152066 DEATHS. March. September 99069 96314 94926 101024 104664 89484 119672 120032 105870 98430 105306 106682 118241 86134 86538 87234 85337 89149 90231 106718 99727 102153 92871 99468 100813 107861 75440 82339 76792 79708 74872 101663 93435 87638 135227 85849 91381 100497 92332 83204 84328 87493 90864 80681 108937 103479 92436 97589 91845 99019 99946 * The numbers up to 1851 have appeared in the Annual Reports. BIRTHS.-147,581 births were registered in the quarter ended September 30th. This is above the average number, but it is less by 3,612 than the numbers (151,193) which were registered in the corresponding quarter of 1852. The decrease is, singularly enough, observable in every county except Middlesex, Surrey, Cornwall, Staffordshire, Rutlandshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, and Monmouthshire. INCREASE OF POPULATION.-As 147,581 births and only 92,332 deaths were registered, a balance of 55,249 remains in the population. The births and deaths are not registered in Scotland and Ireland, as they are in nearly all other civilized countries, so that the increase of the population of the United Kingdom cannot be ascertained; but if the excess of births in those divisions of the United Kingdom bears the same proportion to the population as it does in England and Wales, the increase by natural causes must be about 83,000. But 87,467 emigrants sailed from the ports of the United Kingdom, at which there are Government Emigration Agents, in the quarter ended September 30th, 1853; so that allowing on one hand for births unregistered, on the other for emigrants unreturned, it is probable that the population of the United Kingdom has declined rather than increased during the summer. 13,623 of the emigrants sailed from London, Plymouth, and Southampton; 63,600 from Liverpool; 2,807 from Glasgow and Greenock; 7,437 from Irish ports.* As a large proportion of the emigrants from Liverpool, as well as from the Irish ports, England+:-Annual Rate, per cent., of Marriage, Birth, and Death, during the Years 1843-53, and the Quarters of those Years. 16318 16516 16716 16919 17124 17331 17541 17754 17977 18195 Quarters ended the last day of March June September + The table may be read thus, without reference to the decimal points:-In the year 1848, to 100,000 of the population of England there were 798 marriages, 3,249 births, and 2,307 deaths registered. The annual rates of marriage in each of the four quarters were 661, 805, 755, and 961 per cent.; the rates of death 2-794, 2-313, 2-005, and 2-108 per cent. In reading the population on the first line add three ciphers (000). The three months January, February, March, contain 90, in leap year 91 days; the three months April, May, June, 91 days; each of the two last quarters of the year 92 days. For this inequality a correction has been made in the calculation. * Return with which the Registrar-General has been favoured by the Emigration Commissioners. |