The institution is in as good condition as the circumstances

warrant.

The needs are a coal-shed, ice-house, piggery, and barn at Long Island, and coal-shed at Rainsford's. Special appropriations have been requested for the foregoing, and it is hoped that the City Council will vote the appropriations. Chimneys erected on the present building at Long Island, for the purposes of ventilation, are needed, which, with the completion of the hospital now in course of construction, and the other improvements referred to above, will place this. institution in a most excellent condition, and it will be large enough to accommodate the paupers for many years. A partial description of the hospital building is given below, and when the building is ready for occupancy it will be one of the best and most economically constructed hospitals on this continent.

"The original plan of the Cottage Hospital at Long Island, Boston harbor, calls for a building 211 feet by 315 feet, divided into three main ward-rooms, connected across the front with a corridor 15 feet wide, in the centre of which is the administrative building, 49 feet by 52 feet, and at the ends the head-houses, each 45 feet by 49 feet. This arrangement forms two large interior courts for light and air, each 90 feet by 160 feet, between the central and the end wards. When the whole building is completed, there will be ample accommodations for 300 beds in the ward-rooms, together with the quarters for the physicians, nurses, attendants, etc., in the head-houses and administrative building.

"At present the right wing is built, consisting of a wardroom containing 100 beds, and the head-house with rooms for special patients, nurses, linen closets, diet kitchens, etc., together with the corridor connecting the administrative building.

"This last-mentioned building is three stories high, all the others being but one, and contains twenty rooms for the physicians, nurses, matrons, etc.

In construction, the aim has been to make this building as nearly fire-proof as it is possible for a frame building to be. The exterior walls are covered with cement mortar, with the panels formed of wooden strips, in the style of the English 'open-timber' work. This cement is placed directly upon the terra-cotta lumber, which forms the walls of the ward-rooms; and upon stiffened wire-laths for the corridors. The exterior walls of the corridors and administrative building are built of three-inch plank, grooved and splined together, and plastered inside and outside, making a wall impossible for the passage of fire or vermin. The

exterior walls of the ward-rooms and head-houses are of terra-cotta lumber, plastered directly on both sides, thereby preventing any possible flue or passage for fire or vermin, and yet the terra-cotta is of such a porous nature that, with the cement coating on the outside, we are assured of a dry, warm wall on the interior.

The floors are built of mill or slow-burning' construction, which uses very large hard-pine timbers, covered with three-inch plank, making a floor so solid that it would require many hours for a fire to burn through from one floor

to another.

"The heating and the ventilation of this building are still under consideration, but the ward-rooms will be ventilated by a register under each bed, running to a large main vent, and from thence to the brick stacks, which extend through the roof."

Ground was broken in October. The cellars and foundation were dug and built by the inmates of the Home, assisted by labor from the House of Industry, the stone furnished being the refuse of the stone-yard at Deer Island.

The contract for the building was made with Mr. Neil McNeil for $44,776.

The work has progressed rapidly, and will be completed in the early spring.

The City Council in December authorized the construction of an additional wing, the money, $35,000, being transferred for that purpose from a surplus of appropriation for 1891-92 for this department.

An estimate of $12,500 has been forwarded to the Mayor for an electric plant for this institution.

The number remaining at the House of Correction Dec. 31, 1891, was 556, an increase of 19 over Dec. 31, 1890.

Sixty-seven cases of first offence of drunkenness were placed on probation up to July 1, when the new law relating to drunkenness went into effect.

Additional buildings are needed at this institution, a prison-building to contain 400 cells, and a hospital which will accommodate at least 30 patients. An estimate of the cost of these, $60,000 for the prison and $25,000 for the hospital, was transmitted to His Honor Mayor Matthews, on Dec. 29, 1891.

The Marcella-street Home is in good condition; the roofs of the main buildings have been thoroughly repaired, and a new roof put on the stable.

At the Charlestown Almshouse considerable repairs have been made, the labor being largely performed by the inmates.

The steamer "J. Putnam Bradlee" has made its regular daily trips, and is in good condition.

There have been but few changes of officials. Dr. Daniel S. Harkins succeeded Dr. Wm. B. Holmes, resigned, as physician at Home for Paupers, Jan. 17, 1891. An additional assistant physician (Dr. C. E. Dever) was appointed at the same institution.

We respectfully refer you to the reports of the superintendents of the several institutions, which are annexed herewith, for details of their condition and management.

The Commissioners, in conclusion, have the honor to state that the Mayor and City Council have promptly answered their requests for means to make improvements; the superintendents have been faithful and have been in accord with the views and desires of the Commissioners, thereby supporting the Board in managing the department in a manner, we believe, satisfactory alike to the city government and the public.

Respectfully,

For the Commissioners of Public Institutions,

THOS. L. JENKS,

Chairman.

REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DEER ISLAND

INSTITUTIONS.

DEER ISLAND, BOSTON HARBOR, Jan. 1, 1892.

To the Commissioners of Public Institutions:

GENTLEMEN: The report of the institutions located on Deer Island, for the year ending Dec. 31, 1891, which comprises the House of Industry for male and female prisoners, House of Reformation, and Truant School for boys, is respectfully submitted.

Statistics will show that when the new law for drunkenness went into effect, July 1, 1891, the number of inmates in the House of Industry was:

Men

Women

Total

The number remaining July 29, 1891, was:

Men.

Women

Total.

762

252

. 1,014

447

209

. 656

a decrease of 358 in less than thirty days. Since that time the number has been steadily increasing, and the number remaining Dec. 31, 1891, is:

We are overcrowded. There are now lodged outside of

there being only 410 cells for men. The women all sleep in dormitories; there should be an appropriation to extend the male wing. Until this is done, unless there is a large decrease in numbers, which will not be realized under the present law, our dormitories must remain in a crowded condition. Our loafers' hall" for men should be the first place attended to, for on a cold or stormy day it is so overcrowded the air is almost too poor to breathe. The sheds in the men's yard, if they were rebuilt and carried up two stories in height, would give us much-needed shop or sleeping room; it would only cost for material, as we could furnish all labor.

Employment of inmates, at a profit to the institution, is a question of serious import, with our present number.

If the Truant boy's could be removed to the mainland, and the Reformation boys to their quarters, it would give all of the House of Industry to the men, and the Reformation building for women. That would accommodate some 400 more men, and give plenty of room for all of the women, and considerable more shop room.

Repairs have been made on the steamboat wharf, piles. have been driven, and the planking kept in repair; a set of shears has been made for the coal wharf and put into position, so that we can take coal from any kind of a vessel or scow that may come to the wharf.

Sections two and three of the Metropolitan Sewer are completed. Work on the pumping-station will commence in the spring. It relieves us, for a short time, of a crowd of laborers that have been roaming around the island for the past one and a half years. It has been a detriment to good discipline.

The number of boys at the House of Reformation has decreased, being, Jan. 1, 1891, 69, now, December 31, 68. Competent and devoted teachers have been employed, and their services are appreciated. The health of the boys has been generally good; but little sickness existed, one death having occurred. Joseph Daily, age 15 years, one of the printers, died from typhoid fever November 11. It was our first death among the boys for many years. There are twelve boys learning to be printers, under the instruction

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