The generally improved circumstances of the country must doubtless be regarded as the chief cause of the present decrease of pauperism; but the commissioners consider that it is likewise in no small degree attributable to the extension of workhouse accommodation. This extension has, it is said, “enabled the administrators of relief throughout Ireland, with very few exceptions, to meet the actual destitution existing, without having recourse to out-door relief.” The progress of the extension may thus be tabulated:— Extent of Workhouse Accommodation. ┌────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐ │ Year. │ On March 25. │ On Sept. 29. │ ├────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤ │ 1847 │ 114,129 │ 114,865 │ │ 1848 │ 154,429 │ 169,142 │ │ 1849 │ 228,458 │ 244,942 │ │ 1850 │ 276,073 │ 289,931 │ │ 1851 │ 308,885 │ — │ └────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘ And at the date of the Report (5th May 1851), the aggregate of the workhouse accommodation available, beyond the numbers then receiving in-door relief, was 60,491. Improvement in the sanitary state of the workhouses, and of the labouring population generally, is said always to follow the increase of workhouse accommodation, and the substitution of in-door for out-door relief; so that although a great reduction of expenditure took place in the last year, a still further reduction may be expected in the present. [Sidenote: 1852. Fifth annual report of the Poor Law Commissioners for Ireland.] The Report of the commissioners for 1851-52 is dated on the 1st of May, as had been theretofore generally the practice, although this date was not adhered to in the three preceding Reports. [Sidenote: Improved circumstances of the country.]