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The object of the institution is to afford to outcast babes, or to the children of poor and destitute parents, the protection and nur- ture of a home. Boys remain under its benevolent roof, until they attain the age of 10 or 15, when they are reared out to service, or are adopted into some family, and girls until they reach their 16th year, when they are engaged as waiting-maids, or are taken into concu- binage, or are betrothed by a parent in favor of his son or grandson.
This institution is above a hundred years old. It was erected in the first year of the emperor Kienlung's reign, at which time it num- bered only twenty-four distinct apartments. During his reign and since his demise, it has undergone various repairs, and has been much enlarged, so that now there are upwards of 100 rooms, includ- ing superintendent's quarters and public halls. It has lately been repaired, after a partial demolition' during the occupation of Ningpo by the British forces in 1841 and 1842,
It derives its support from various sources. It has an annual income-from money laid out at interest, from private donations, from the rent of houses, from lands let out for a return in kind or in money, and from yearly contributions of grain made by each of the six districts in the department of Ningpo. From the latest edition of the Annals of Ningpo, a historical work published fifty- four years ago, it appears that, from the rise of the institution to that date, the sum of its capital stook and yearly interest amounted to upwards of 10,300 taels of silver. We are also therein informed that it owned more than 209 acres of land which had been grant- ed by the generosity of its friends, and that the yearly rent, from eighteen rooms and one large mansion, bronght in 58 taels and odd. The same history mentions that, in the 40th year of Kienlung, his imperial majesty published an order that the city and district of Ningpo should annually contribute 38 shih, 4 tau of rice, and the districts and cities of Tsv'kí, Funghwá, Chinhás, Siángshán and Tinghái, (all belonging to the department of Ningpo,) should res- pectively pay 36 shih of paddy into the funds of this charity,' so that the nurses and the foundlings might be supplied with monthly rations, and whatever medicine they might require.' Besides the superintendent mentioned above, there is a government inspector, who takes general cognizance of the affairs of the institution, to check extravagance and prevent embezzlement.