e used in preference to new, the "Weekly
Out-Door Relief List," now in daily use, may be made the basis of an
improved form.[2]

How are we to proceed? Let the reader call to mind a parish or union
with which he is acquainted, and make it the scene of his labours. That
period of the year when the demands upon the attention of the Board of
Guardians, and its officers, are at zero, may be selected for making the
first step in advance. The most convenient season of the year would
probably be a late Easter; for at that time the weekly returns for
in-door and out-door relief are rapidly descending. The winter is losing
its rugged aspect and is rapidly dissolving into spring: and labour is
busy in field and market. And so it continues until the fall of the
year, except when the temperature of the summer may be unusually high,
and then low fever and cholera prevail in low, marshy, crowded, or
undrained districts. Those cases which have received relief for the
longest period may be taken first. The technicalities of the report may
be made up from existing documents. The history of each case may not be
so readily prepared. It being a collection of facts, they may be added
slowly. The space allotted to this important matter is amply sufficient,
unless the officer should unfortunately be afflicted with a plethora of
words. The whole number of ordinary cases may be reported upon, and
their classes apportioned, before the winter sets in. In the month of
November, the _medical list_ would begin to be augmented. And as the
dreary season for the poor advances, the _casual applications_ would
multiply. In two or three years the names of all persons who ordinarily
receive relief, or are casually applicants, would be found in the Report
Book: and the facts having been recorded there, the labours of the
officer would then decrease, and be confined to the investigation of
existing circumstances.

The reader may have inquired, upon observing the number of classes into
which the recipients of relief are proposed to be arranged, how can
accuracy be ensured--how can they be preserved intact? It is admitted,
that unless the grounds of the distinctions are clearly defined, and the
facts of frequent occurrence, the classes will manifest a tendency to
amalgamation. If the reader will take the trouble to refer to the form
of "Weekly Relief List" below,[3] he will perceive that the fourth,
fifth, and sixth classes, have but one column. This was done