103 



Another consequence of inequality in supply, is specula- 

 tion. There are instances during the last six months, in which 

 Indian Corn has passed from one hand to another before it 

 has gone into consumption, until it attained a profit upon 

 the original cost, of 150 to 200 per Cent; and Rice, and 

 indeed, every description of food consumed by the mass of 

 the population, has increased in price in an extraordinary 

 degree. 



It must always be remembered, that at the same period, 

 in some of our most thickly populated districts, the mills 

 and manufactories are working short time. The result is 

 starvation, disease, and death to many, and demoralization 

 to all. 



In proof of this statement, I may refer to a document 

 recently published by the Registrar- General, entitled " A 

 Return of the Health and Mortality in 115 districts in 

 England for the quarter ending December, 1846." I un- 

 derstand that it is principally intended to show the result of 

 certain states of the atmosphere in a sanatory point of view ; 

 but it in reality does much more when fully and properly 

 considered. The districts to which it applies may be said 

 to contain in round numbers a population of about seven 

 millions. The mortality exceeds the average of the same 

 quarter in preceding years, by 7311 ; and it exceeds that of 

 the same quarter in 1845, by 13,727 ; which, taking the 

 deaths in the quarter of 1845 at 39,178, makes the enor- 

 mous increase upon the mortality of 1845, of 35 per Cent. 

 Some portion of this is of course attributable to the severity 

 of the season ; but that other causes operated to that end 

 there cannot be a doubt. The increase was the greatest in 

 the provinces, and some of the Registrars mention as the 

 real causes of the fatality, " the high prices of provisions'' 1 

 and " the depression of trade." The cold has been quite 

 as great in previous years, when the mortality was not so 

 great ; but food was then more plentiful, and labour more 



