After further efforts to secure a suitable site, the uncertainty as to the location of the Asylum, and the inconvenience caused by the non-existence of something of the nature of a home, were at length brought to an end by the purchase, from Mr. J. H. Clapcott, of 8¾ acres on the Caversham Road for the sum of 600; and in the third year of the Institution, a wing of the Asylum building, designed by Mr. A. R. Lawson, was completed at a cost (including purchase of ground) of £3,114 7s. 2d. Of this sum £1,500 was furnished by the Provincial Government. As the years went by that wing was added to, piece by piece, as funds were provided by the Government and by public subscriptions, and now the Province possesses a Refuge for its aged, infirm, and disabled homeless ones, and also for a large number of orphan children, of which it may well be proud. The main building, a magnificent edifice, is built of bricks, consists of three stories, and when the western wing, now near completion, is finished, it will comprise 17 dormitories, capable of accommodating about 60 women; 5 dormitories containing about 60 beds for children; large sitting and sewing rooms for the women; dining-rooms for all the inmates, inclusive of the male adults (separate rooms for the sexes); hospital ward and two maternity wards; kitchen, &c.; and master and matron's and servants' apartments. The Old Men's Home is separate from the main building, and it comprises 6 wards, with 71 beds; 2 large sick wards, with 34 beds; cottage of 4 rooms, with 12 beds; cottage of 2 rooms, with 6 beds; and cottage containing smoking and reading rooms and small separate apartments for 5 men. There are, besides, the necessary outhouses, including large school-room (also used as chapel and lecture-hall), playshed, &c. Altogether, the Asylum can give accommodation to 250 inmates.
It was not contemplated by the promoters of the Institution that it should combine a home for the aged and infirm and an Orphan Asylum as well, and far less that it should take charge of criminal children. But force of circumstances compelled the Committee to receive orphans, and by the "Neglected and Criminal Children's Act, 1867, they were for a time made the legal guardians of such children as were committed under the Act. In consequence of this, and because of the lack of the necessary accommodation, and much to the regret of the Com-
