BOUCHES DU RHONE. MARSEILLES. [Sidenote: Population of the Department, 359,473. Population of Marseilles, 145,115.] _Vagrants._ It has been calculated that the average number of beggars in this department (the Mouths of the Rhone) is 1060, whereof 900 are natives and 105 strangers, besides 240 who traverse the department. The calculation having been made some years ago, the numbers may have increased with the population, which was then 313,000, and is now 359,000. The only relief granted to the poor travelling is by giving them a “passport d’indigent,” furnished by the local authorities, in which their exact route is designated, and not to be deviated from; they receive, as they pass through each commune, three sous for every league of distance, equal to a halfpenny per mile, and lodging for the night: beggars have no relief but private charity. _Destitute Able-bodied._ The principal establishment at Marseilles for their relief is the bureau de bienfaisance, whose revenues, arising partly from the remnant property of some charitable institutions existing before the revolution, partly from an annual allowance granted by the budget of the commune, partly by a tax on theatrical admissions, and from private subscriptions, amount altogether to about 140,000 francs, or 5600_l._, of which the major part is distributed in money to the “pauvres honteux” (those who have seen better days), and in providing necessaries and medical assistance for the poor in general, by five directors, and at their sole discretion. Similar establishments exist in the other arrondissements of this department, but, with the exception of Aix, with very small means, principally dependent on the commune budgets, which, in many cases, furnish nothing. I am informed that in this commune, with a population of 140,000 inhabitants, the bureau relieves, more or less, 800 families of “pauvres honteux” and 4000 families of indigent poor. There is also at Marseilles a société de bienfaisance, supported principally by private charity, whose chief object is the establishment of soup kitchens and dispensaries for the relief of the poor, and a school for the education of their children from four to nine years of age. No relief is ever given in money. Their annual revenue is about 40,000 francs, or 1600_l._; and in times of great distress the local administration increases its funds, and supplies the poor with soup through its means. The number of children received in the school above-mentioned is about 200: they receive two meals a day and sleep at home; they are taught various trades, and apprenticed at the expense of the commune; there are also several gratuitous day-schools for children of the age of seven years and upwards, and who bring their own food. _Impotent through Age._