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

LOSS OF THE " TAYLEUR."

IN another part of the paper the loss of this
noble ship is recorded. A Catastrophe so appal-
ling is a national calamity. These fearful
wrecks have increased, are increasing, and
the question now is, can they be diminished ?
So far as the Tayleur is concerned, undoubtedly
she need not necessarily have been lost, if
ordinary and obvious precautions had been
taken; and these were all the more necessary
because the course she had to pursue, for
about 100 miles after leaving Liverpool, is
one of the most dangerous that exists any-
where. Starting from the vast and increasing
sandbanks at the mouths of the Mersey and
the Dee, she would exchange them only to
encounter the headlands of Wales. Ormes-

• Report on the Sanitary Condition a
of Towns Commission, vol. 1), p. 187.

(Health

head and the Island of Priest
Dutchman's Bank between--ei
with tales of death and terror—are
entrance. into the Menai Strait
night is dark and the ship is
fore, whatever the weather, she
outside the Island of Angle
puts back, or has a pilot on
take her into the natural hari
the Little Ormeshead. The fate
her course until, in a fearful
that triangle of which Port d
head, and the Irish coast are
Still, had she been well-hank
the Tayleur could have defier
sea, however great their hwy.
day morning she was driving fu.
coast. Her situation was Ica
time to enable her to beat
neither sails nor helm seem
applied to their proper use.
and currents swept her on,
shreds against the rock, al
cargo of 000 human beings tie
were in a few minutes corps
to and fro by the raging sea.
says the compasses were w""
counts state that the crew did
how to work the ropes and haw
and a third, about which there
doubt, alleges that many of tlik
and Chinese, who could not under,
taia's orders. Since the repeal
tion laws no statutory provisio7
ciency in the crew. The Tayl
have put to sea manned with
Again, before the Mercani
was passed, a committee repo]
can ships sailed with fewer
owing to the superior intellige
This was accounted for by the
duced by the facilities for insurance
in England. If a ship is lost
tains no pecuniary loss. Wh(
centive to exertion is wanting,
stake, is it not the province
intervene and provide safeguar&
violate any rule of political
it be a restriction on trade—to t
an emigrant-ship sails a eertiti
obtained from the harbour-mas,
puty, that the crew posses
technical knowledge of their
present ease the vessel was
haps from the variation of thk
mainly through the incapacit:
to obey the orders of the caps
examination under the eye of
nautical man would prevent tin
a catastrophe so fearful, at least
cause.

FINANCE FOR WORK':
PROVIDENT INSTIT'
IF it be true, as we believe it
pular movements which mk
class are those which origins
itself, not many institutions,
done or are likely to do, more
than the various denominath
Societies.

These societies, essentially,
self-supporting, supply the onl;
by which a life spent in labour
from an old age of pauperism,
banks are uncertain; the old '
ing up coin, still common
nearly passed away among of
men, and was at best unprofitaL
mained in vogue ; while, in both
the other, the money saved being
the power of the depositor, a
extravagance may destroy the
years' economy. This is not
cieties in question, inasmuch
their payments, not at the
ceiver, but at times and undl
which are known and fixed befc
The scale on which unde
nature are carried on is but lit
among persons interested
which they involve. There is
as regards the actual statistics
stated on good authority tha,
individuals taking part in

—area thwm
—e
she
-
tatael St
btboeolaAemoa
ra:ffen r I thud,
shudhp
ouss
ahifv
points.
carryr,
,eshsoe°s_iicps; tiltraits, When
eliut
j:?11
dye.
LAhgitollme,es,
isip
lyn
Llinas,
deep. T, tile
r
l
to
sh
eenea_onamththaieebidu.nod.
handlel. El,
1)8ds
beso knownt hili
fie ngh in a
lei
idlyp t ample
t
e
re
ms
e
L e
anl
rang
ea.
m ol
were
ehghit
might
rtteii living
slegally
sails;captainalr.
lion
-4. and
But on Sat
8t
13: to have bean
se
tderstand the tap-
of the navigt•
cardsMaur
lan
y.
rrtile
m; ddeten?sTl lo that
n ensuresnhahael
individualdr ienne,
owner
understand
anoli
sal e ourortes,
!nee of the former
t
us•
en
to carelessness in.
nuance that exist
g, in
and life is N
of legislation to
is
economy—would
3 enact that before
tificate should be
master, or a de-
!ss a competent
it duty? In the
lost partly per-
he compasses, but
ty of the mariners
ptain, An hour's
f an experienced
the recurrence of
sat from a similar
CING MEN—
TUTIONS.
it is, that the po•
nost benefit any
tate in that class
in any form, have
e for working men
Lions of Friendly
r sellgoverned and
ily practical means
can be guaranteed
perism. Savior
fashion of hoard.
in Ireland, has
our English wort.
itable while it re
both one else sad
eing at all Wools
a single impulse of
he fruits of many
t so with the so'
41 as these make
option of the re
under conditions
beforehand•
lertakings of this
little known, eve:
in the questions
s some uncertainq
co, but it has be
at the number of
Such associatino
1111 1

JANUARY 28, 1854.

may be reckoned 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 li
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