and sailors who have served on the quota of Boston during the late war.

During the past year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two persons have been aided; of these, nine hundred and seventy-five have a settlement in Boston, two hundred and forty-one have settlements elsewhere in Massachusetts, and six hundred and sixty-six have no settlements whatever, within the State.

In addition to the means furnished by the city treasury, the Board of Overseers have the disbursal of other money; for they have been for nearly a century, as a corporation, entrusted with several funds, the income of which they distribute semi-annually, principally to old householders, who have by misfortune fallen from affluence, or comfortable circumstances, to indigence and want. This timely assistance to those in the decline of life is received by the beneficiaries without impairing their self-respect, or wounding those delicate feelings which would be would be shocked if they felt that the aid received was a charge upon the city.

The gross amount of these funds is two hundred and fifty-two thousand eighty-six dollars and twenty-four cents, and the present number of

beneficiaries who receive its aid is two hundred

and sixty-eight.

The Board of Overseers are sensible that the advantages which were aimed at by the erection of the Charity Building have thus far been eminently realized. While ample accommodations are furnished to the Overseers of the Poor, there are now in the building the Provident Association, the Industrial Aid Society, the Boston Ladies' Sewing Circle, the Soldiers' Fund Organization, a branch of the Boston Dispensary, the City Physician, and various other agencies established for the relief of the poor and the suffering. All these organizations, directly or indirectly, aid the overseers in the work which they were designed to promote. A knowledge of each others' benefactions is secured by their contiguity, and the result is harmony and co-operation in charitable labor. Cases which the overseers cannot legitimately help from the city treasury are relieved by the private societies, and the city in its turn relieves a class of cases which formerly were a burden to the societies.

The Temporary Home, which has now become an important public institution — adjoining the Charity Building, has afforded shelter and relief

to many unfortunate women and children, who otherwise would have suffered in the public streets, or have found refuge in the police stations. These are permitted to remain only a short time in the institution, for measures are immediately taken upon their admission to send them to their friends, or to provide for them homes or permanent asylums, if such are required by their circumstances. Males are supplied with single meals only, and they are required to find their own lodgings, at the police stations or elsewhere. The general statistics of the Home for the last year are as follows: Total number of persons admitted during the year one thousand five hundred and thirty-five. Of these, two hundred and forty-five were Americans, eight hundred and thirty-six were foreigners, and four hundred and fifty-four were children under twelve years of age. Ten children were adopted, and situations have been procured for three hundred and fifty-four nurses and domestics; and fourteen thousand eight hundred and eighty-four single meals have been furnished.

STATE AID.

Payments to disabled soldiers and sailors and their families, and the dependents of those who lost their lives in the late civil war, have been

made the past year as in former years. The whole amount disbursed in 1866, including the sum paid by the City of Roxbury, was two hundred and thirty-two thousand and thirty-five dollars. From legislation and other causes, the payments have gradually diminished, until the sum disbursed the past year has been but about one hundred thousand dollars. The number of families entitled to aid, and on the books at the Relief Office on the first of January 1870, is thirteen hundred and fifty-six; about forty will be added to this number by the annexation of Dorchester. The operations of the Act granting State aid will cease on the fourth of January, 1871; at present, payments are made monthly at the Relief Office. Justice and gratitude to those who have suffered through their efforts to preserve their country demand that these payments should be continued, at least for a few years, and I trust that the subject will be brought to the attention of the legislature at the coming session.

CITY HOSPITAL.

In my last address I suggested that it might soon be necessary to increase the accommodations

required for this institution. The experience of the past year has fully demonstrated to the trustees this necessity. The number of patients in the hospital on the first of January, 1869, was one hundred and eighty-one, and there were admitted during the year two thousand two hundred and seventy-nine, making in all two thousand four hundred and sixty, - an increase of two hundred and forty-one over the number of the previous year; and ten thousand four hundred and seventythree persons have been treated as out-patients. The present capacity of the hospital is sufficient to accommodate a little over two hundred patients; and if the surgical and medical male and female patients were more equally divided, the trustees would be saved the necessity of declining to receive a large number of patients, as they are now obliged to do. Out of seven hundred and thirty applicants who were declined admission during the past year, about fifty per centum were proper cases for treatment, if sufficient room had been at the disposal of the trustees. This fact, taken in connection with the increase of population by the annexation of Dorchester, and the prospect of still further extension of our limits, indicates that an enlargement of the hospital will