486 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



being the treasurer and steward. The num- 

 ber of inmates of the Industrial School forGirls, 

 at Lancaster, was 104 at the end of the year. 

 The receipts were $29,719.53, and a balance 

 of $1,636.01 remained over. The trustees 

 recommend the erection of new buildings. 

 The State Primary School, at Monson, con- 

 tained 529 children on the 1st of October; 

 127 had been placed out in families. The 

 total expenditures were $47,348.87. New 



GORE HALL, CAMBRIDGE. 



officers have been placed in charge of the 

 institution, whose efforts are commended by 

 the inspector. Larger school-rooms, better 

 ventilation, and improved appliances for in- 

 struction are recommended by the same offi- 

 cial. The Ladies' Advisory Board suggest that 

 the condition of the school is not creditable to 

 the State, and many changes and improve- 

 ments are recommended. The Lunatic Hos- 

 pital at Taunton contained 374 male and 402 

 female patients on the 30th of September, and 

 the whole number of different persons under 

 treatment during the year preceding was 1,244. 

 The daily average was 727, while the institu- 

 tion is designed to accommodate only 550. 

 The expenditures for the year were $141,- 

 694.87. The number of patients in the Luna- 

 tic Hospital at Northampton, on the 30th of 

 September, was 475, of whom 229 were men, 

 and 246 women. The whole number treated 

 during the year was 603, daily average 476. 

 The expenditures of the year amounted to 

 $97,573.45. At the Almshouse at Tewksbury 

 there were 91 9 inmates at the end of the year. 

 The total number for the year was 3,238, 

 weekly average 924. The gross expenditures 

 were $96,576.41 ; cost of support for each per- 

 son per week, $2.01. New buildings have 

 been added at an expense of $5,000. The 

 present valuation of the property is $372,- 

 174.19. The valuation of prison property be- 



longing to the several counties of the State is 

 $3,699,421, and the average number of prison- 

 ers in county prisons, jails, and houses of cor- 

 rection, was 2,466. 



The total cost of pauperism in the State, for 

 the year ending March 31st, is calculated at 

 $1,790,624, of which $1,450,624 was paid by 

 cities and towns. Of the 342 cities and towns 

 in the State, 222 provided for the paupers in 

 almshouses, and the aggregate number in those 

 establishments for the 

 year was 6,166, and the 

 average number 3,747. 

 The cost of almshouse 

 support was $453,835, 

 the average per week 

 for each person being 

 $2.44. One hundred 

 and twenty cities and 

 towns kept the panpers 

 in hospitals or families, 

 the number of persons 

 thus supported being 

 2,505, and the cost of 

 support $343,542, or an 

 average of $3.48 per 

 week for each person. 

 The aggregate number 

 receiving partial support 

 or relief was 74,384, from 

 which, it is estimated, 

 about 12,000 should be 

 deducted for duplica- 

 tions. The expense for 

 relief and partial sup- 

 port was $728,163. The cost for overseers, 

 and miscellaneous items connected with care, 

 of paupers, is put at $82,21 5, making the whole 

 cost to cities and towns $1,611,755, from which 

 $161,131 is deducted for reimbursements. 



The whole number of persons in State luna- 

 tic hospitals and asylums, on the 30th of Sep- 

 tember, was 2,539, and the whole number of 

 cases treated during the year preceding 3,688, 

 representing 3,501 different persons. The 

 whole number of insane persons in the State 

 is estimated at 4,000. 



A commission was appointed, under an act 

 of the last Legislature, " to inquire into the ex- 

 pediency of revising the system of administra- 

 tion of the public charities and reformatory in- 

 stitutions of the Commonwealth, and all the 

 existing statutes in regard to pauperism, crime, 

 and insanity, with a view to securing greater 

 simplicity, economy, and efficiency, in said ad- 

 ministration." The commission, in making its 

 report to the Legislature of 1878, submitted 

 the following recommendations : 



1. That the Board of State Charities, the Boards 

 of Trustees of the several State Lunatic Hospitals, of 

 the State Keform and the State Industrial Schools, 

 the Inspectors of the State Almshouse, of the State 

 Workhouse, of the State Primary School, and of the 

 State-prison, the Board of Police Commissioner!!, 

 and the various Advisory Boards of Women, be abol- 

 ished. 



2. That the government of the several lunatic bos- 



