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If this excess of expenditures over the estimates of last year is unexpected to the members of the Legislature, it is equally so to the trustees. Both of these parties could only reasonably act in view of the probabilities in the case. Neither, for example, could anticipate a contingency that occurred -- the necessity for excavating the sub-cellar in a rock formation.

Our situation is a peculiar one, and in many respects different from that of any other of the charitable institutions supported by the State. They all have buildings sufficient to accommodate all applicants for admission from within the borders of the State. They all have been the recipients to a greater or less degree of private endowment, and have some corporate funds to fall back upon in any emergency. Ours is a State institution. It was founded by the State and is managed by the State. Every step, of any importance, taken by the Board of Trustees, has been referred to the Legislature for their sanction and taken only with their approval. The asylum is now occupying a building temporarily, that accommodates when crowded only fifty pupils. That number they have had for more than a year past, and there are now more than fifty applications for admission from all parts of the State pressing upon the attention of the officers of the asylum.

As a matter of charity, no one can dispute the equality of their claims upon the State's bounty when compared with that of any other class of her unfortunate children. As a matter of political economy, the moneys appropriated for their education will most assuredly result in the relief from the burden of their support at the public expense, in a greater degree than in the case of any other subjects of education in the State.

The thirty thousand dollars heretofore appropriated by the State has been expended as follows:

Cash paid on account of Idiot Asylum.

ALBANY, Dec. 13, 1854.

The following is an account of the current expenses of the institution during the last fiscal year, viz.;

The trustees are gratified to find the pupils of the institution steadily improving; and that the experience of the last year confirms their conviction of the complete success of the experiment. They respectfully and earnestly invite the members of the Legislature to visit the institution, and witness for themselves the extraordinary results of the discipline and training to which the pupils are subjected.

They also again avail themselves of the occasion to express their highest approbation of the devotion, ability, and science of the superintendent, Dr. Wilbur, and to commend his report, and the suggestions it contains, to the attention of the Legislature.

In conclusion, the trustees would remark, as in their former report:

"The destiny of a charity upon which the fate of so many helpless beings depends, and which has roused the attention and excited the admiration of the humane and the intelligent throughout our whole country, now rests with the Legislature."

All of which is most respectfully submitted.

JOHN C. SPENCER,
HENRY N. POHLMAN,
JAS. H. TITUS,
FRANKLIN TOWNSEND,
F.F. BACKUS,
Trustees.

MYRON H. CLARK,
HENRY J. RAYMOND,
E.W. LEAVENWORTH,
Ex-officio Trustees.

SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.

To the Trustees of the N. Y. Asylum for Idiots:

I herewith submit my fourth annual report as Superintendent of the N. Y. Asylum for Idiots.

The fifty pupils reported at the Asylum a year since, from the different judicial districts of the State, with a few changes, still continue with us. These changes have occurred for the following reasons: