Preceeding and accompayning this change there was a general advocacy of relaxation in the administration of relief. The demand for the abandonment of a distinctive workhouse dress, and for the supply of tea and tobacco to the aged was simultaneous with a demand on the part of some for out-door relief to old pensions as a kind of right, and, on the part of otheres, for gratuitous or conditional pensions. It was also ueged that the municipal authorities should supply employment, if desired, during the winter-time, and it was argued that, if relief were given to able-bodied men by the Guardians, owing to want of employment, it should not involove the loss of the franchise, and the doctrine that the responsibility of providing employment rested with the State was widely preached. ... One result, due in great measure to these causes, is the large increase in pauperism in the Metropolis during the present winter.