Committee is in favour of 108. per diem as the pay of the Assistant-Surgeon on first appointment. 10. That the relative position of medical and combatant officers be not changed, and that the Army Surgeons be not made a more military body than at present. 11. That the system of Confidential Reports should be placed upon the same footing with those relating to combatant officers. 12. That the Committee agree with the recommendation of the DirectorGeneral as to leave of absence, honorary distinctions, funeral honours, special services, and relative rank. 13. That as it has been stated to the Committee that the supply of Medical Officers was insufficient during the late war, the establishment of Civil Hospitals may have been necessary; but the Committee trust the recurrence to such alternatives may be avoided for the future. 14. That a person duly qualified to compound medicines, and attested for military service, should form a part of the medical establishment of every regiment; and that those persons should be selected either from the Medical Staff Corps, from the ranks of the regular Army, or from the orphan sons of soldiers educated at the Military Asylum; that they should be regularly trained and educated with a view to the duties to be discharged; and that no one shall be considered eligible for employment until he has given proof, on examination by a board, that he may, with safety to the sick soldier, be entrusted to compound the medicines to be administered to him. 15. That the Medical Staff Corps, which was raised for service during the late war, should continue a part of the Peace Establishment; and that it is desirable it should be recruited from the ranks of the Army, provided volunteers offer in sufficient numbers, possessing the requirements deemed essential to qualify for the particular service on which the corps is to be employed. 16. That the standard of providing clothing and earthenware vessels for eating and drinking at Haslar Hospital be extended to the general hospitals of the Army; that accommodation for sick officers be provided in them; and that a Military Lunatic Asylum be provided, as embraced in the design for the New Military Hospital at Southampton. 17. That the question of hospital stoppages be left to the discretion of the Horse Guards and the War Office. 18. That at the outbreak of any future war, separate transport should be provided for the conveyance of all medical stores; but the Committee leave the minor arrangements of detail to the Executive. 19. The Committee, in the course of its inquiries, have had incidentally brought before them the admirable manner in which the Army and Civil Surgeons have performed their duties in the East, and the Committee are glad to take this opportunity of recording the high opinion they entertain of their merits. No. XV.-BURIAL ACTS. Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to consider of the Burial Acts. THE Lords following were named of the Committee:-Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Privy Seal, Duke of Somerset, Marquess of Bath, Earl of Doncaster, Earl of Shaftesbury, Earl of Portsmouth, Earl Fortescue, Earl Malmesbury, Earl of Lonsdale, Viscount Sydney, Lord Bishop of Rochester, Lord Bishop of St. David's, Lord Bishop of Oxford, Lord Bishop of Salisbury, Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, Lord Redesdale, and Lord Portman. The Committee having met and considered the several Acts referred to them, agreed on the following resolutions :— "1. That before the ground is declared fit for consecration, the Burial Board shall, besides the external wall or rail surrounding the whole cemetery, provide a boundary between the consecrated and unconsecrated ground, according to the metes and bounds described in the deed of consecration, to consist of an iron rail, of not less than 3 feet in height, and fitted to bound stones; provided that any other fixed and permanent boundary which the Burial Board may prefer may be adopted, with the sanction of the Bishop. "2. That, to remove doubts, it is expedient to declare and enact, that in any case in which any ground shall be consecrated under any faculty as a family burial-place, no general right to bury in such ground shall be acquired by others than those to whom it is limited in such faculty as the result of such consecration." No. XVI.-NATIONAL VACCINE BOARD. Annual Report of the National Vaccine Establishment, 1856. In the course of the past year, 220,639 charges of lymph have been sent out. The employment of the lymph in the recruiting depôts and regimental hospitals has been successful, and has protected the British forces from the spread and ravages of the small-pox. The number of vaccinations reported is 128,495, of which 8,637 were performed by the stationary vaccinators in the metropolis. The letters received from correspondents have amounted to 10,539. The employment of vaccination is materially impeded in the colonies, as well as in the mother-country, by the carelessness, the wilful negligence, and prejudices of the poor and ignorant, from which charge some of those in the wealthier classes of society are not wholly exempt. The report is addressed to Sir George Grey, Bart., and signed by John Ayrton Paris, President of the Royal College of Physicians, William Lawrence, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, W. E. Page, M.D., Censor of the Royal College of Physicians, and C. Hue, M.D., Registrar. No. XVII.-LUNATIC ASYLUMS. Abstracts of Accounts of Moneys received and paid on account of the several County and Borough Asylums in England and Wales during the year ending 31st December, 1855. [Presented pursuant to Act of Parliament.] THESE abstracts of accounts comprise the amount of receipts and payments of thirty-seven lunatic asylums, showing in each case the amount of salaries and wages, provisions, necessaries, clothing, funeral expenses, &c. No. XVIII.-GREENWICH HOSPITAL. Return to an Order of the House of Commons, dated 12th June, 1856, for Copies of Memorial from the Captains, Commanders, Lieutenants, and Masters of Greenwich Hospital, dated 28th May, 1856, to the Board of Admiralty, and of Letter from Admiral Sir James Gordon, the Governor, which accompanied it; and of the reply thereto. (Captain Scobell.) (301.) In this memorial, the Captains and Masters of Greenwich Hospital pray to be permitted to draw their half-pay in the same manner as other officers in civil employment. The answer by Mr. B. Osborne, of the Admiralty, is to the effect that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty cannot comply with the request. No. XIX.-SMOKE NUISANCE ACT. Return to an Address of the House of Lords, dated 11th August, 1855, of all the furnaces existing within the Metropolis before the 20th August, 1853, in any glass or pottery works which were exempt from the provisions of the Smoke Act of that year, and of any additional furnaces erected in such works since that period, together with any report which may have been made by the Commissioners of Police to the Home Secretary. (59. L.) THE number of furnaces existing before the 20th August, 1853, which were exempted from the provisions of the Smoke Act, was 364, of which 146 were glass, and 218 pottery works. The number of additional furnaces erected since the 20th August, 1853, was 13, viz., 9 glass, and 4 pottery works. No report has been made by the Commissioners of Police as to the manner in which the glass and pottery works were worked, in regard to the consumption of smoke, and as to the extent of nuisance arising therefrom. No. XXV.-RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. Return of the Number and Nature of the Accidents and the Injuries to Life and Limb which have occurred on all the Railways open for traffic in England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland respectively, from the 1st January to the 30th of June, 1856. [Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty, 25th July, 1856.] FROM the 1st January to the 30th June, 1856, there were in England and Wales, 108 persons killed and 87 injured; in Scotland, 13 persons killed and 16 injured; and in Ireland, 5 killed and 2 injured; total, 126 killed and 105 injured. Of these there were 1 passenger killed and 58 injured from causes beyond their own control; 7 killed and 8 injured from their own misconduct and want of caution; 11 killed and 10 injured servants of companies or of contractors, from causes beyond their own control; and 56 killed and 19 injured of the same, from their own misconduct or want of caution. There were 15 other persons killed and 1 injured in crossing at level crossings; 30 killed and 4 injured trespassers, including 2 cases of suicides, and 6 killed and 5 injured miscellaneous cases. In the corresponding half-year of 1855, there were 113 persons killed and 158 injured. The length of railway open on the 30th June, 1856, was 8,461 miles; and in 1855, on the same date, 8,118 miles, viz., 6,316 miles in England and Wales, 1,157 miles in Scotland, and 988 miles in Ireland. In the first half-year of 1856, there was 1 accident arising from a collision between passenger trains, in which 1 person was injured; 16 accidents, collisions between passenger trains and other trains or engines, 3 killed and 49 injured; 1 passenger train, or portion of train, getting off the rails, causing 3 injured; 1 axles, or wheels, or machinery of engines attached to passenger trains breaking or getting out of order, causing 1 killed and 2 injured; 1 axles or wheels of carriages of passenger trains breaking, causing 2 injured; 1 bursting of the boiler of engine of passenger train, causing 2 killed and 4 injured; and 2 trains running into stations at too high a rate of speed, causing 5 injured; total, 6 killed and 66 injured. There were 6 accidents to goods and mineral trains, causing 5 persons killed and 4 injured. Total, 29 accidents, causing 11 persons killed and 70 injured. The accidents to servants of companies, which have caused 67 persons killed and 29 injured, comprised 6 engine-drivers, 13 firemen, 20 guards and breaksmen, 5 porters, 2 policemen, 3 gatemen and signalmen, 3 switchmen, 13 platelayers, 17 labourers, and 13 miscellaneous. No. XXVI.-MERCANTILE MARINE FUND. An Account of the Mercantile Marine Fund, under the Act 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104 & 429, showing the Income and Expenditure for the year 1855. [Presented pursuant to Act of Parliament.] THE total receipts amounted to 258,291l. 14s. 8d. in cash, and exchequer bills 156,000l. The total payments, 140,644l. 148. 2d.; balance unappropriated, 117,6477. Os. 6d. The working expenditure of the fund showed a receipt of 37,8751. 19s. 5d. for fees, on examination of masters and mates, on engagement of crews, on discharge of crews, and on renewal of certificates, &c.; 253,8281. light dues received per Trinity House Corporation; 33,050. 78. 9d. per Port of Dublin Corporation; 26,3497. 98. 3d. per Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses; and 42,510l. 10s. 5d. ballastage rates received. The expenditure comprised 28,755l. 18. 9d. salaries and expenses at the shipping offices at the various ports of the United Kingdom, including salaries and fees paid to surveyors of steamships; 214,701. 198. 2d. expenses paid for the maintenance of lighthouses; and 43,3677. 188. 5d. expenses paid on the ballastage rates. No. XXVII.-RAILWAYS. Return to an Order of the House of Commons, dated 31st January, 1856, for Return showing for each Railway Company the Amount of Capital and Loan which the Company has been authorized to raise by Acts passed previous to, and in, 1855; the Amount of Share Capital actually paid up on the 31st of December, 1855, &c.; of the Amalgamation of Railway Companies effected during 1855, and the length of each Line for which the powers granted by Parliament for the compulsory purchase of the land required for its construction have been allowed to expire without the exercise of such powers, &c. (Mr. Lowe.) (316.) THE amount of capital and loan authorized to be raised to December 1854, was 369,348,2127. 11s. 9d. Capital and loan authorized by Acts passed in 1855, 9,192,0381. 138. 4d. Total, 378,540,251l. 58. 1d., from which there were deductions caused by Acts passed in 1855, 3,568,285l. 6s. 8d. Total to December 1855, 374,971,965l. 188. 5d. The amount raised by shares and on loan to December 1855 was 297,584,709%. In 1855, there was raised, 11,515,915. Up to the 31st December, 1855, the powers have expired for the construction of railways of the length of 2,414 miles out of 3,334 miles which were authorized to be constructed by Acts of Parliament. |