In London alone the cost of relief has doubled since 1851. In that year the total relief amounted to 659,000_l._; in 1858 it had increased to 870,000_l._; in 1867 to 1,180,000_l._; and in 1868 to 1,317,000_l._ The population within this time has increased from 2,360,000 to something like 3,100,000, the estimated population at the present time; so that while the population has increased by only 34 per cent, the cost of relief has exactly doubled. Thirteen per cent of the whole population of London were relieved as paupers in 1851, and in 1868 the percentage had increased to 16. In 1861 the Strand Union had a decreasing population of 8,305, and in 1868 it relieved one in every five, or 20 per cent, of that population. Besides this, the cost of relief per head within the workhouse had much increased within the last 15 years. The cost of food consumed had increased from 2_s._ 9_d._ per head, per week, in 1853, to 4_s._ 11_d._ in 1868; while we have the authority of Mr. Leone Levi for the statement that a farm-labourer expended only 3_s._ a-week on food for himself. In 1853 the population of England and Wales was in round numbers 18,404,000, and in 1867 21,429,000, being an increase of 3,000,000. The number of paupers, exclusive of vagrants, in receipt of relief in England and Wales was, in 1854, 818,000, and in 1868 1,034,000, showing an increase of 216,000. The total amount expended in relief to the poor and for other purposes, county and police-rates, &c., was, in 1853, 6,854,000_l._, and in 1867 10,905,000_l._, showing an increase of 4,000,000_l._ This total expenditure was distributable under two heads. The amount expended in actual relief to the poor was, in 1853, 4,939,000_l._, as against 6,959,000_l._ in 1867, being an increase of 2,020,000_l._ The amount expended, on the other hand, for other purposes, county- and police-rates, &c., was, in 1853, 1,915,000_l._, against 3,945,000_l._ in 1867. And now comes the vexed question, Who are the people who, amongst them, in the metropolis alone, contribute this great sum of _thirteen hundred thousand pounds_, and in what proportion is the heavy responsibility divided? This is the most unsatisfactory part of the whole business. If, as it really appears, out of a population of two millions and three-quarters there must be reckoned a hundred and forty thousand who from various causes are helpless to maintain themselves, nothing remains but to maintain them; at the same time it is only natural that every man should expect to contribute his fair share, and no more. But this is by no means the prevailing system. Some pay twopence; others tenpence, as the saying is.