PART IV.]

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

[CHAP. I.

Treasury, etc., and again, the Total Expenditures, the Actual Current Expenses, the Apparent Current Expenses, the Current Expenses as computed by the Superintendents, etc.; and also the "Probable Current Expenses," which is simply an estimate of my own, from all the information accessible, of the annual cost of each establishment. It is not claimed that this is absolutely correct; indeed, it is given in round numbers to show that it is but an approximation. Nor do I claim to have better means of judging than the Superintendents possess, although this may sometimes be the case: such as it is, it is offered for your examination, the grounds on which it is based having been well considered.

The extreme difficulty of arriving at the exact annual cost of a great establishment in full operation, and with a large amount of personal property on hand, can only be appreciated by those who have attempted to ascertain it. The method which seems to be correct in ordinary times, will not stand the test of such fluctuations in prices as we have known within the last five years. Hence the importance of taking long periods over which to extend the computation; and hence the value of the Financial Statements required by you, and producing tolerable uniformity in these statistics from one year to another.

5. Liabilities and Resources.-As was explained last year, there is an important difference between the three Lunatic Hospitals and the other institutions, in regard to the nature of their Resources. The seven other establishments named in these Tables depend directly and almost wholly upon the State Treasury for their support, while the Hospitals do not, to anything like the same extent. Their Resources and Liabilities, therefore, can be calculated with some accuracy at any time, while it is only at the end of the calendar year that this can be done at the other establishments. If the balance of Liabilities is then against the institution, it is disposed of by a deficiency appropriation, in each year; but, at the Hospitals, it is not customary to pass a deficiency bill every year, even if, as at Worcester and Northampton, there is a yearly deficiency.

LIABILITIES, EXPENSES, RESOURCES, ETC.

It will, of course, be understood that the Resources and Liabilities of institutions having specific appropriations for expenses of the calendar year, as shown in this connection, must be regarded as only approximate statements, subject to material changes in making up the financial results at the close of the year.

While the current expenses at the Pauper Establishments appear to be less than the year before, a diminution still more noticeable is apparent, from the Superintendent's statements, at the Reformatories. Even at the School Ships, instead of the increase of expenditures observed last year, there now appears to be a decrease of over $4,500.

Correction. An inadvertent omission of two or three words in the text, at the bottom of the last page, (96,) not discovered till printed for this Report, does injustice to the Hospitals at Worcester and Northampton. After the word "as," in the last line but one, there should have appeared the words "has been the case." No deficiency has occurred at either of these Hospitals for the last two years; on the other hand, as appears by statistics given on a subsequent page, both are now self-supporting, with reserved funds in hand.

13

PERSONAL ESTATE.

PART IV.]

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

Includes the value of the barns.

[CHAP. I.