A statement is given in the appendix to the Report, of the appropriation of the loan of 300,000_l._ advanced under the above statute, which was, the commissioners say, “a most seasonable relief to many unions and electoral divisions that were deeply embarrassed by debt in the early part of 1850.” But in addition to this loan of 300,000_l._, a second rate in aid of 2_d._ in the pound, amounting to 99,362_l._ 3_s._ 3_d._, was levied under an order issued on the 23rd December 1850, “for the further assistance of distressed unions and electoral divisions.” The Rate-in-Aid Act would expire on the 31st of December, and it had been hoped that the raising a second rate under it might have been avoided. “But after the conclusion of the harvest of last year (the commissioners say) they perceived indications of the continuance of distress in so serious a degree in the counties of Clare and Kerry, that they could not, with the small balance at their disposal, feel justified in omitting to avail themselves of the power of declaring a further rate;” and subsequent experience, they observe, confirmed the propriety of the step thus taken. The two rates in aid amounted together to 421,990_l._ The distribution of this large sum among the distressed unions was, under direction of the government, intrusted to the Poor Law Commissioners, by whom an account of its application was furnished in detail. [Sidenote: Amount of expenditure, and numbers relieved.] An expectation had been held out in the last Report of a very considerable reduction of expenditure taking place in the following year,[190] and this expectation was fulfilled. In the 163 unions the total expenditure from the rates for the relief of the poor during the year ending on the 29th September 1850, was 1,430,108_l._ The number of inmates on that day was 155,173, and the total number relieved in the workhouses during the year was 805,702. The number then receiving out-door relief was 2,938, and the number who received out-door relief during the year was 368,565.—It is seen therefore that, as was expected, a very considerable decrease had taken place; but to show this clearer, I will recapitulate the several amounts for the three preceding years. In the year ending 29th September 1848, the total expenditure for relief of the poor was 1,835,634_l._—in 1849 it was 2,177,651_l._—and in 1850 it was 1,430,108_l._ The total number relieved in the workhouses in these years respectively, was 610,463—932,284—and 805,702; and the total number who so respectively received out-door relief, was 1,433,042—1,210,482—and 368,565. The decrease in the numbers who received in-door relief, may perhaps seem disproportionately small; but this is accounted for by the fact of the workhouse being more extensively used for the purposes of relief, than had been the case in former years. ----- [190] Ante, p. 365. ----- [Sidenote: Extension of workhouse accommodation.]