With regard to these institutions the commissioners remark—“The medical relief at present afforded throughout Ireland is very unequally distributed. In the county of Dublin, containing exclusive of the city about 176,000 inhabitants, and about 375 square miles, there are 24 dispensaries, or one to every 7,333 inhabitants. In the county of Meath, containing about 176,800 inhabitants, and about 886 square miles, there are 19 dispensaries, or one for every 9,306 inhabitants. In the county of Mayo, containing 366,328 inhabitants, and about 2,100 square miles, there is only one dispensary supported at the public expense.” Such inequalities, it is observed, are the necessary consequence of a law which renders the establishment of a dispensary contingent upon voluntary contributions. In districts abounding in rich resident proprietors, a medical charity is least wanted, but subscriptions are there most easily obtained; whilst in districts where there are few or possibly no resident proprietors, the aid is most wanted, but there are no subscribers, and consequently there is no medical charity. [Sidenote: Houses of industry.] Houses of industry (or workhouses) are established and regulated under the provisions of the _11th and 12th Geo. 3rd, cap. 30_,[62] the _46th Geo. 3rd, cap. 95_,[62] and the _58th Geo. 3rd, cap. 47_.[62] There are nine of these institutions in Ireland, and of some of them a brief account is given; but it is said to be difficult to judge of the economy with which they are conducted. The total income of the houses of industry in the year 1833 derived from grand-jury presentments, subscriptions, and miscellaneous sources, and including a parliamentary grant of 20,000_l._ to the Dublin institution, was 32,967_l._, and the number of inmates on the books was 2,732. ----- [62] Ante, pp. 51, 74, and 77. ----- [Sidenote: Foundling hospitals.] There were two large foundling hospitals, one in Dublin, the other in Cork, and a small one in Galway. With the exception of one child under peculiar circumstances, there have been no admissions for some time into the Dublin house, and the establishment is only used for the occasional accommodation of such children as are still on the books; and as these are disposed of, will cease altogether. The Cork hospital is supported principally by a tax on coals: it is still open, and has 1,329 on the books. At Galway the number of children is only eight. These institutions, the commissioners remark, are now acknowledged to be in their nature utterly indefensible. The expense of the Cork and Galway establishments in 1833, derived from miscellaneous sources, was 6,628_l._ The parliamentary grant to the Dublin foundling hospital in 1828 was 34,000_l._ Supposing it to have been 30,000_l._ in 1833, it would make the entire charge of these institutions, in the latter year, amount to 36,628_l._ The total charge of the foregoing institutions as stated in the tables appended to the Report, is as follows:—