The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-21 00:00:00

parts of the three kingdoms. The cause is good
—it is to denounce an oppression, of which
industry, talent, wcrth, and feminine wc4kness
are the victims. Let this be but remembered,
and who can doubt the cause will be nobly vindi-
cated ?

In another part of our impression of to-day
will be found a report of the Sixteenth Annual
General Meeting of the Provident Clerks' Associa-
tion. Wo have for many years felt sincere plea-
sure in directing the attention of our readers to
this valuable institution, and to its strong claims
upon all who are interested (as who in this great
commercial country is not ?) in the effectiveness of
that machinery by which the gigantic results of
English commerce are worked out. We have so
frequently recurred to this subject that it scarcely
admits of being placed in any new light ; but we
observe with the greatest pleasure the commence-
ment of a system, long and earnestly advocated
by the Directors of the office in question, the
good results of which can scarcely be exaggerated.
We allude to the insurance by employers of
the lives of those in their service. For some time
past the generous policy of the late and present
Postmaster-General has afforded to the employ6s
in their service a valuable assistance in assuring
their lives, part of the premium being paid by a
fund which has for years been accumulating in
the Post-office. Carrying this excellent system a
little further, his Grace the Duke of ARGYLL has
applied it in a most satisfactory manner to the
letter-sorters and carriers, who have been enabled
to secure an assurance of 501. at a less cost than
the fluctuating, and often comparatively trifling,
sum they obtained from the funeral fund. Two
hundred of the men, we are informed, availed
themselves of the liberal offer of his Grace, and
assured their lives in a body with the Provident
Clerks' Association. Since the completion of
this business a similar wise and liberal
arrangement has been made by the Directors
of the Electric Telegraph Company, who have
offered to assist each of their employes to assure
their lives by paying a considerable share of the
premiums. This offer, it may readily be imagined,
has been gladly accepted, and a very large number
of the lives have been already assured by the
Directors of the Provident Clerks' Association,
who appear, indeed, to have been on the qui vive
in securing these two valuable sources of business.
We can scarcely conceive a form in which the
assistance of an employer is more likely to be
of service than in aiding and encouraging those in
his employ to provide, by assurance, for the wives
and children dependent upon them. By its adop-
tion he is spared the pain of hearing, often of
refusing, the heart-rending appeals of a widow
whose husband has spent his life in faithful
service, or of witnessing the destitution of orphans,
whose moral claim upon him he cannot but admit.
The Directors of the Company we have named
deserve all praise for having furnished to other
public companies so admirable an example, and
we cordially recommend it to the consideration of
those bankers and merchants who value the well-
being of their employes.

We must not omit to state that the balance-
sheet of the Provident Clerks' Association dia
closes a most gratifying position. This arises,
doubtless, in some measure from the spread of
the business among the general public. Be this
as it may, the fact that more a million pounds has
been assured since the commencement, and nearly
90,0001. accumulated, together with a steadily
increasing income of 26,0001. a year and upwards,
shows that the office in question is fairly
entitled to rank among the best, because the safest,
assurance offices of London.

THEATRES.