mended. The expense of a paid Commission would be utterly insignificant in view of the vast pecuniary interests at stake.

The working of the Fire Department under the new system is eminently satisfactory. Its property is in better condition, its action more efficient and successful, than under the previous system, and at the same time its cost is less, in my judgment, by, say, $250,000 a year than it would have been had the old system been continued to the present time.

The Board of Health has justified its existence by its diligence and vigor in abating nuisances, and arresting at their source the causes of disease. The nuisances abated by the Committee on Health in the years 1871 and 1872 were 10,999 in number; those abated by the Board of Health in 1873 and 1874 were 27,314 in number. The number of houses vacated by the Health Department in 1871 and 1872 was 39; in 1873 and 1874 it was 273.

The Board of Registrars of Voters appear to have performed their perplexing duties with fidelity and success. Amid all the difficulties of

arranging the names of voters to correspond to the new division of wards, only two voters out of nearly 40,000 were wrongly located. Only one attempt to secure a fraudulent registration is known, and in that case the culprit was immediately prosecuted and convicted. I suppose that Boston has now a registration as exact and complete as is attainable in a great city.

partment.

The Police Department would, in my opinion, Police Debe greatly improved, both in efficiency and economy, by being placed in charge of a Commission. Demands are made in all directions for an increase of the force, for the better protection of persons and property. I fully believe that a competent Commission, by introducing stricter methods of appointment, supervision and discipline, would render such increase unnecessary, and very much increase the efficiency of the present force. I think a Commission would save at least the amount of their salaries by a more systematic and watchful method of procuring the supplies for the department. I know by experience, as well as from the nature of the case, that the affairs of this department cannot be properly attended to by the Committee on Police, oppressed as they are by

Schools.

their other public duties, and occupied by business of their own.

In the matter of school accommodations, I find that in the school-houses throughout the city there are upwards of eighty unoccupied schoolrooms, which, at fifty scholars to a room, would afford seats for 4,000 children. I also find that inasmuch as the daily attendance is in many districts considerably below the capacity of the rooms, it may be safely calculated that there are every day 10,000 vacant seats in our schools.

It may be inferred that the erection of large and costly school-houses has in these latter years been pushed somewhat beyond the reasonable requirements of the city; at least that there may well be a temporary pause in this line of architecture. I am advised that at least two, and probably three, Grammar Schools can now be given up, the property turned over to the City Council, and all the scholars be well provided for in neighboring schools. Five Grammar Schools can be consolidated into three, and probably seven into five. These buildings are situated in the heart of the city, and, with the land, can be sold for a very large amount of money, and the same scholars

can be well provided for within easy access of their homes. The saving which can thus be made in the items of salaries, fuel and supplies, will amount to many thousands of dollars, and the schools will be much more efficient than they are to-day. I am also assured that the appropriations asked of the City Council by the School Board the past few years have been unnecessarily large; but the main item, salaries, is one over which the School Board have entire control. A comparison of the cost of maintaining our schools with that of other large cities would startle the community. Such comparison would, I think, show that Boston is to-day expending proportionately twice as much for her public schools as any other large city in the country. Are the results attained commensurate with this large expenditure?

I trust that the new School Committee, by its more compact and effective organization, will be able, as well as disposed, to co-operate with the City Council in securing a wise economy in the providing of school accommodations, and in administering all the pecuniary affairs of these important but expensive institutions. At the same time we may well expect them by their ability and

zeal to do much to raise the standard and disseminate more widely the benefits of education, and add to the already well-established fame of the Boston Schools.

Parks.

Sewers.

By authority of an act of the Legislature, the subject of a public park, or parks, has been placed in the hands of an unpaid Commission. These gentlemen have been pursuing their inquiries with great energy and untiring patience for some months. They are examining the whole territory of the city, and listening day after day to plans and suggestions from all quarters. Their report will doubtless be of a character to enable the City Council and the citizens to come to an enlightened and satisfactory determination on the subject.

Our system of sewerage, as it now exists and as it ought to be, has undergone the thorough investigation of a scientific Commission, whose report will be immediately laid before you. Their conclusions will be scanned with great solicitude, both as affecting the supreme interest of the public health and as involving, probably, a very large outlay of money.