In many respects the difficulties of administration are greater in hospitals and private institutions than in public asylums maintained out of the rates. The financial problems raised by the reduction of hours and the increase in salaries, as well as the greater cost of all commodities, are very serious when there is little prospect of increasing the income to meet the increasing expenditure. What will happen if the present tendency continues no one can foresee, but it seems quite clear that the middle classes will soon be unable to bear additional burdens. Already many patients with limited income cannot possibly pay increased charges, and it would be cruel to discharge, for financial reasons, aged patients who have been under care for years, and have no other home than the asylum in which they live.