The Press. — London, England, 1854-01-28 00:00:00

JANUARY 28, 1854. may be rec koned at 3,000,000 ; that their an nual revenue falls little short of 4,000,000/. , and that their accumulated capital considerably exceeds 11,000,0001. Of this enormous invest ment the greater part has been made within the last few years. In 1815, at the close of the European war, not 1,000,000 persons were returned as members of friendly societies; showing an increase in numbers of at least 300 per cent. within less than forty years ; surely a striking proof both of the increased well-being and of the greater providence of the working class in our own time. The object of these clubs is generally three fold—to supply assistance to the members when sick, to pension them in old age, and oc casionally to grant to the surviving relatives a premium, by way of life insurance, on their deaths. They afford incidentally, through their financial operations, some very curious and valuable information respecting the condi tions of life and health. From the two principal writers whose calcu lations on this subject are published we have the following results. The average amount of sickness in the labouring class is fur each indi vidual yearly : At the age of 20, about 8-10ths of a week. 30, „ 9-10ths „ 40, „ 11-10ths, or 1 week + 1-10th. If 50, „ 18-10ths, or 1 week + 8-10ths. f 60, „ 33-10ths, or 3 weeks + 3-10ths. 70, „ 120-lOths, or 12 weeks. These calculations must be regarded as ap proximate only, and the authorities—Mr. ANSELL and Mr. NEILSON - differ somewhat. They are, however, accurate enough for ordinary purposes, and striking as evidence of the rapidity with which, as the powers of life become ex hausted, sickness increases in amount and dura tion. It must, however, be borne in mind that under this name is included all such physical infirmity as produces disability for labour, though not necessarily implying actual dis ease or suffering. From the leading fact here elicited follows a most important practical inference. " The " rate of sickness during the early and middle " parts of life forms no standard whatever of "the amount experienced in old age." The total average amount of sickness experienced between the ages of 20 and 60—a period of 40 l i years—does not exceed 60 weeks and a few days, about 14 months in all • while in the 10 years intervening between the ages of 60 and 70, not less than 77 weeks, or nearly a year and a half, are passed in that state. In other words, the average proportion of time passed in sickness to time passed in health is between 20 and 60, 1 day in 35 : the same average pro• portion between 60 and 70 is 1 day in 7, or rather above that rate. Mark the practical result of this. A number of young men, possessed of no very accurate or scientific knowledge of facts, but acting bond fide and without fraudulent in tentions, found a benefit club. They find the payments made on account of sickness in finitely below the rate at which printed cal culations had led them to estimate it. Their funds increase ; they become possessed of considerable capital ; more members flock in to them ; they conceive themselves, and are conceived by others, to be in a highly-flourish ing financial condition. But gradually the first founders grow old. Augmented demands are made yearly on their funds; capital is drained off; these demands continue to in crease ; and, too late, the discovery is made that the whole thing is a delusion ; that the rate of payment has been fixed too low, that of relief too high ; that the foundation on which the scheme rests is unsound; and a grave though undesigned fraud has been perpetrated upon all the members. This is at present the case, not with one or two only, but with the great bulk of the friendly societies now existing ! Let us hear Mr. HARDWICK, himself connected with one of these institutions, and author of a valuable lecture from which we have borrowed the above calculations : Many Persons imagine because their lodge or club has a few hundreds of pounds in the box, or invested in securities, that they are perfectly safe. But what avails a knowledge of a tradesman's capital, if his debts and engage ments are concealed? I will instance the lodge to which I belong • It is generally considered a prosperous one. In INA it numbered 195 members; their average age was THE PRESS. thirty-three years and three-tenths ; and this was still in• creasing each year ! The proportion of married men was below the average of the district, being only sixty-eight and two•tenths per cent. Yet, from Mr. Ratcliffe's calculation from the average experience of the city districts of the Manchester Unity, this fund could only pay 7s. 11. in the pound on its liabilities ! ! That is to say, the lodge ought to have been in possession of upwards of 2,1001. to enable it, with the existing rate of contribution, to meet the whole of the future liabilities of the present subscribers !! Those clubs with older members, and a proportionately less reserved fund, may imagine the precarious position iu which they stand !! Hence innumerable failures, imputations of foul play, waste of funds, and incalculable suffering to individuals. Where is the remedy to be found ? A detailed statement of pre cautions advisable is here impossible ; but one or two may be hinted at. 1. The rates of contribution ought to be framed on the best tables accessible : these tables should be reprinted, and the public made familiar with them. They furnish the sole security against either wilful or careless error, leading to bankruptcy. 2. The rates of, payment ought to be graduated according to the ages of parties entering. At present they are equal for all ages, in most cases ; and thus members who enteryoung are cheated, while those who come in at a later period of life ge6 more than their due. 3. Small societies should either dissolve or be amalgamated with others. They are open to two objections. First, the expenses of management are proportionably greater; which creates needless loss. Secondly—and this is the main point—they are exposed to fluctuations from which more extensive asso ciations are free. A few words will make this clear The duration of a single life is, of course, utterly incalculable beforehand. The duration of ten lives collectively may vary to a considerable extent. The duration of a thousand lives is in comparison certain. And the collective length of a million lives, in the same class anti locality, and exposed to the same influenees, is, for all purposes of calcula- ' tion, a fixed quantity. Hence the smaller the society the greater becomes the inevitable fluctuation , while in proportion to its increase of members is the certainty of its life estimate. 4. A periodical balance of accounts is in dispensable in common prudence. If the capital gained exceed considerably the cal culated expenditure, a bonus may be declared ; if it fall short, a levy should be made on all the members, to check in its beginning a deficiency which may otherwise become dangerous. These suggestions we offer in all confidence: whether their adoption should be left optional, or enforced by law, is a question on which we do not touch. THE ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. A RUMOUR is prevalent that the Lord Chancellor is prepared to bring forward a measure for the transfer of the business of the Ecclesiastical Courts to the Court of Chancery, a proceeding which appears pre cipitate, considering what took place last session. Then Lord CRANWORTH reminded the House of Lords that, as a Commission from the Crown had been issued for the purpose of inquiry, it would be but decent to await their report before legislating on the subject. In the Commons a struggle was carried on between Mr. COLLIER and the Solicitor-General for the trans fer of the business in question to the courts in which they respectively practise. But the Chancellor's bill is preparing, and it is said that the removal of the jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty, which was a part of Mr. COLLIER'S scheme, will not be an ingredient in it. But all the testamentary business is to be absorbed in the Court of Chancery. The question then arises, how was the compromise effected by which Sir RICHARD BETHELL has charmed the Chancellor and prevailed against the might of Mr. COLLIER? In 1853 it appeared that about 12,900 probates and administrations annually pass the seal of the Prerogative Court, conveying property (personalty) to the value of about fifty millions sterling, without fraud or error. Hence the routine of the courts it is proposed to merge must certainly be well organised ; and machinery which so deals with interests of such vast amount should not be hastily or need lessly interrupted. It is a NATIONAL ques 75 tion, and, if it be one that has occupied the attention of Commissions from the Crown and Committees of both Houses of Parliament during the last quarter of a century, it is not to be sported with by such men as the present Chancellor and his Solicitor. General. Mr. COWER, we are persuaded , will be no party to that. There is more in reserve. From a Cabinet of compro misers no measure of mature wisdom and practical be nefit to the country can be expected. But extremes meet, and it is possible that points of harmony and union may be found in the Cabinet and in the Commission. There are in both ultra Churchmen and extreme Radicals—Mr. GL ADSTONE and Sir WILLIAM MOLES WORTH, Sir PAGE WOOD and Sir R. BE THEI.L. The point of union is this, and it is well worthy of attention. The former party desire the severance of the Church from the State, with a view to her indepen dence. The Radicals equally desire the same sepa ration, because they object to all endowments and hate all ecclesiastical establishments. Without expressing any opinion on a measure the existence of which at present rests only on rumour, we will observe that it is wise to watch with a jealous eye any change that emanates from sources so discordant on important points, yet united on this, aided by meu so astute in their profession as the law officers of the Crown, and so accommodating as the Solicitor- General of Lord MELBOURNE, or the Lord Chan cellor of Lord ABERDEEN. ADMINISTRATION OF TRUSTS BY JOINT STOCK COMPANIES. A DEPUTATION of " gentlemen from the Incorporated Law Society " this week waited on the Lord Chan cellor in reference to a proposal which will soon come before Parliament to enable joint stock corn panies to undertake trusts and to administer trust estates. The deputation strongly object to the mea sure, and urge against it many reasons, all of which, it appears to us, can be disposed of by one answer— viz., that the statute would enable and not enjoin, permit and not compel ; and that it would only be giving a testator or settler power which he does not now possess. Every one who has had any experience in the settlement of property or the enforcement of a settlement is aware of the many difficult and un pleasant circumstances that generally attend these ordinary events of life. The parties to them are almost inevitably relatives or intimate friends, so that feeling intervenes in that, which ought to be rigidly and strictly a matter of business. Except in rare instances, a trust relationship never terminates without leaving a sense of injury rankling in the mind of one of the parties to it.. Again, the office is so thankless that there is often much difficulty in finding persons willing to undertake the office. These evils would be at once removed if the proposed mea sure were to become law. The objection that trusts ought not to be a source of profit we consider untenable. All men are likely to discharge their duty better if they are paid for it, and we believe the present system is infinitely more costly than that which it is proposed to introduce, as, under the existing law, if a trustee is very strict he can generally put the estate to the expense of a Chancery suit; if he is imprudent, yielding, and obliging, and swerves from the rigid path of duty, he and his children may be ruined. We believe the lower the charges of the companies the greater their profits would be. They would neither have the rashness nor the timidity of individuals, and in time they would acquire so much experience and such a mass of precedents that a recourse to Chancery would be an exceptional event: under the present system, if trustees are strict, it may almost be considered the rule. The Lord Chancellor remarked that the subject was one of great importance ; and, unless stronger argu ments than those adduced by the deputation are urged against it, we think we may justly add, that the proposed measure is wise and convenient, and ought to be adopted. MOVER OF THE ADDRESS. LORD CASTLEROSPE, according to the Coalition jour nals, has been selected for moving the address in the House of Commons. As the title has not been heard of for a long time, some of onr readers may require to be told that the Noble Lord is a Roman Catholic nobleman, member for the county of Kerry, and heir to the earldom of Kenmare. Recollecting the debt of obligation due from the Coalition to the Irish Roman Catholic members, we are not surprised at Lord ABERDEEN inviting the noble member for Kerry to discharge the functions assigned to him. The selection is significant of past favours, and is possibly symbolical of future policy. We do not at present recollect any previous instance of a Roman Catholic member being called on to move the address. t J I i5m..... f