General's statistical review for 1928, the birth rate last year was 17.8" per 1,000 of the population. Excepting the rate of 17.7 in 1918, the last year of the war, which at that time was regarded as phenomenally low, that for 1926 la the lowest recorded since the or establishment of civil registration in this country. In view of the continued decline during the first half of the current year, it is prob-fable that ther rate for 1927 will be lower than that for 1918 The the death rate was 11.6 per 1,000 of pulation, and was equal to that' Jof 1923, the lowest on record. In 1924 and 1925, the rate was 122 per 1,000, Deaths of infants under tone year of age were equal to 70 per 1,000 births, and were five per 1,000 above that in 1923, the lowest yet recorded, 'The birth-rate in England and Wales, the review states, now has fallen' below that of France, and, with the exception of that of Sweden, is the lowest of the principal European countries. On the other hand, the genera death-rate and the infantile mortality are low, compared with the rates prevailing in most of the other countries.
Suicides from poisonous gases newtly all of which were from coal as, numbered 943 in 1926, as fayzainat 165 in 1917. Deaths on railways numbered 419, as against 527 in 1925, and fatal road ne~ feidents increased from 3,412 in 1925, to 4,073. It is dificult to institute comparison between the deaths from the several kinds of vehicles, states the Registrar-General, owing to the cases in which two or more different types of vehicles were me volved, and inquiry failed to in dicate which vehicle was in fault, Of the cases where death was caused by one vehicle only, it fs of interest to-note that the deaths from motorjonmibuses, cabs and tram cars jowed n very slight increase from 529 in 1925 to 639 in 1920. Of the. deaths from other types vehicles, those from motor-cycles increased from 543 to 783, and from motor-cars from 987 to 1,173.
The Cornhill Collapse A topic to which very great attention has been paid by the press.
the collapse of part of the Commercial Union Assurance building jin Cornhill, Fortunately it happen-fed at midnight on Saturday, un- po Jdoubtedly asa result of heavy ex-Jeavations next door in connection the building of Lloyd's Bank headquarters, Early on Saturday vening, cracks were noticed in the jing county, so the origin of the name is a' mystery, The annual all, given by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, fon the night that the new captain of the club plays himself into office, is going to clash again this yenr with the second of the two Perth balls, which usually means that some' bright young things somehow of other will manage to a somewhat jaded appear-ange at both? The 'Stirling Ball winds up the season, but,' though last it by no means is the least.
The King's Kindness, Here is a story which illustrates the King's kindliness of heart. Two ex-Service men who were out of work got a fet pounds together to yun a refreshment stall at_Goodwood. They pitched this on Trundle Hill, but disaster overtook them for their stall caught fire. Although badly burned in trying to put out, the fire. the men refused medical treatment and pluckily declared that they would carry on with the Jittle stock that was left to them, though they had lost nearly every: thing they possessed, Hearing of the incident, the King took a banknote from his pocket and ordered that it should be given to the men as an expression of hia sympathy with them. Others around his: Majesty promptly followed his Jead; with the result that enough sapmey was subscribed to put the two ex-Service men into business suddenly the greater part of the rooms, which were in full oceupation, fell out sideways into the hole made by the excavated foundations next door, There will be some nice law-suits as to who is responsible, but about this the public docs not yether.
There has been much uneasiness: as to whether the Royal Exchange, which is dead opposite, would be affected, but this now seems unlikely. ' Still, practically all the Commercial ' Union building is scheduled as unsafe and Cornhill is closed to traffic, as are some of the Jadjoining streets. On Monday, there was traffic chaos in London, but on Tuesday everyone had taken the lesson to heart and things wore much better, as new routes had been called into use for vehicles.
Coming after the collapse of th house in Beak Street, there is some uneasiness as to the heavy rebuilding in progress all over London, more especially as the subsoil is and not rock. Moreover, people doubt whether the road: in many cases are fit to carry the heavy traffic which passes over them, and there is more than a little prise that, in repairing Pie-cadiily, it has' been discovered that there were cavernous and unsuspected recesses at no great distance from the surface. As all builders now have got a good shak-cautions taken. ing up, there will be pater
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.