in which the increase of Savings Bank deposits stood to the decrease of the sums for relief that we wish here to impress upon the reader, leaving him to form his own conclusions. And with all respect to those who framed the measure of 1834, which was very beneficial to the country and only just to the independent poor, we think the results have been rather too much magnified. From the year 1820 we can plainly trace a manifest improvement in the condition of the poor, and we have not scrupled to ask for a place for the Saving Bank system among those important agencies which have led to this improvement. Still, taking the measures of Poor Law relief as a good criterion of their condition, we find that the sum total paid for the ten years between 1811 and 1821 was 68,000,000_l._, giving a yearly average of 6,800,000_l._ In the ten years ending 1832, the amount of poor rates was 62,900,000_l_., or a yearly average of about 6,200,000_l._ Thus we have, in spite of what was considered the iniquitous system of relief, and in spite of an increase of population amounting to 16 per cent., a clear reduction of 5,000,000_l_. within ten years. The advancement is still more clear, if we take the case of the large centres of population, but this is perhaps, unnecessary. The Returns, however, of the Registrar General may be supplemented by Revenue Returns for the same period, from which the improvement in the condition of the industrial classes may be made still more palpable. In 1814 the consumption of tobacco was 15,000,000 lbs.; in 1832 it had increased to 20,000,000 lbs., an augmentation of 31 per cent., while the population only showed an increase of 24 per cent. during the same interval. The amount expended upon articles which, like tobacco and intoxicating drinks, are not, to say the least, of the first necessity, forms no incorrect measure of the progress of the nation, and of the ability of the people to bear the national burdens which must be imposed. In 1814 the consumption of sugar was 1,997,000 lbs.; in 1832 it amounted to 3,655,000 lbs., an increase of 83 per cent. to be set against the above rate of increase in the population. The tea consumed in 1814 was 19,224,000 lbs.; in 1832 it had increased to 31,568,000 lbs., or an increase of 65 per cent.; and coffee increased from 6,324,000 in 1814 to 22,952,000 lbs., or an increase of 183 per cent., in 1832. The increased consumption of such articles, (not forgetting reductions in price,) was an evidence of nothing, if not of the growing prosperity of the people. Such items show that the people, as a mass, enjoyed a greater command over the comforts of life than formerly. The rich man, of course, added little or nothing to his ordinary consumption of the articles that were necessary to his comfort or convenience, but with the poor it was very different. For example, the amount of silk imported during the period of which we have spoken varied but little, while the imports on the article of