year by the falling in
of annuities. It was, therefore, necessary, if the Hospital was to
continue its charities to the same extent as heretofore, that additional
funds should be raised. In an incredibly short space of time 24,000
pounds were collected. The _Times_ makes an appeal about Christmas time
for the refuges of the destitute in the metropolis, and generally it
raises somewhere about 10,000 pounds--a nice addition to the regular
income of the societies. The Bishop of London, since he has been
connected with his diocese, has consecrated 29 new churches,
accommodating 90,000 persons, erected by voluntary subscriptions. We may
depend upon it the various sects of dissenters are equally active in
their way. During last year the Field Lane Refuge supplied 30,302
lodgings to 6,785 men and boys, who received 101,193 either six or eight
ounce loaves of bread. At the same time 840 women were admitted during
the year, to whom were supplied 10,028 lodgings, averaging 11 nights
shelter to each person, by whom 14,755 loaves were consumed. On the
whole it appears that 10,000 persons annually participate in the
advantages of this institution, and 1,222 of the most forlorn and
wretched creatures in London were taken from the streets and placed in a
position where they might earn their own bread, and all this at the cost
of 3s. 6d. each per annum. In 1851 the original Shoeblack Society sent
five boys into the street to get an honest living by cleaning boots
rather than by picking and stealing, and now their number is about 350.
Mr. Mayhew calculates the London charities at three millions and a half
per annum. In estimating London charities we must not be unmindful of
those required by law. According to a return published a couple of years
since, I find, in the districts of the metropolis, the average amount
expended for the relief of the poor was 1s. 6.75d. in the pound. The
total number of casual destitute paupers admitted into the workhouses of
the metropolitan districts during the year amounted to 53,221 males,
62,622 females, and 25,716 children. The quantity of food supplied to
these paupers varies much in the several districts, as also the nature of
the work required. In some cases no work at all is exacted from the
casual poor, but where it is, the demand appears to be chiefly for
picking oakum and breaking stones. In some cases the dietary includes
bread and cheese, with gruel, and sometimes even the luxury