§ LORD CARRINGTONMy Lords, the Census Act requires that the Preliminary Abstract of the Census taken on the 4th of April last should be laid before Parliament within three months after the 1st of June. It is satisfactory that the Registrar General has been able to complete this abstract at so early a date. This is not the time to go into particulars; but it may be interesting to know that the total population of England and Wales is now 25,968,286, being an increase since 1871 of 3,256,020. The rate of increase was higher than in any decennium since 1831–41. The birth-rate was unusually high, while the death-rate was still more unusually low. The higher birth-rate in 1871–81, as compared with 1861–71, implies the addition of 26,774 persons beyond the number according to the previous rate, while the lower death-rate implies that 299,385 persons survived, who, according to the previous rate, would have died—a result which seems to show that modern sanitary legislation has produced useful and important effects. It may be added that the population of the Metropolis is now 3,814,571, showing an increase of 560,311, while the population of the City of London has decreased by 24,414. 17 Preliminary Report and Tables of the Population and Houses enumerated in England and Wales and in the Islands in the British Seas on 4th April 1881: Presented (by command), and ordered to lie on the Table.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before Seven o'clock, to Thursday next, a quarter before Five o'clock.