The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-06 00:00:00

TilE WORKING BEES.

The little woodcut which lies before us as we
write tells of another year having gone over the
head of an institution whose unbroken career of
success has been for more than a quarter of a cen-
turybeehive, and the rapiogY growing figures, belong to
chronicled in these columns. The well-known
our old friends, the Provident Clerks' Association.
Within a very recent time it seems to have sprung
from a small, compact institution, whose merits
were little known and by no means appreciated as
they deserved, into one of those " great facts"
which the energy and enterprise of our fellow-
countrymen now and then put forward to show
what English intelligence and English self-reliance
can achieve.
We never meet their placards on those vast
hoardings which are covered with the announce-
mentslittle ofthem among
figures of their
of every
theof
loud-sounding
mp any ; we hear but
trumpets
of the commercial world ; that their advertisements
balanceare
s iverysheet
et
lainl moderatescale,
yshow;and
theyet,
in this plain
and unobtrusive career, they have contrived to get
together an income exceeding £70,000 a year, and
a solid invested fund of THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY
THOUSAND FOUNDS. From what was stated at the
p
annual meeting, too, it is clear that the business is
not only a large but a profitable one, as the bonus
now about to be declared will not only equal but
exceed, any of its predecessors. When the crash of
the past two years is taken into account, and when
we consider how many of the first class of offices
have found it necessary to reduce their bonuses,
and in some cases to suspend them altogether, it is
indeed satisfactory to find an institution whose
past history is e. guarantee for its sound and pru-
duent management able to show a clear realised
profit of more than fifty thousand pounds wholly
divisible among the assured. Such an institution
must have before it a great future, and although
the title of the office implies a class interest, its
members (who now number more than 10,000) are
found in every class in the country, nor could the
" settlement policies" of the noble, or the heavy
insurances of the wealthy merchant be better placed
than in an association which has BO safely and so
profitably guarded the careful savings of the clerk
and the tradesman.

We are much pleased to find that the directors
have associated with this office a guarantee associa-
tion, which, though entirely distinct as to its capital,
&c., is nevertheless worked so far in harmony with
the life office as to benefit in a very large degree the
members who are able to avail themselves of the
advantages held out by both institutions.

AIR. BRIGHrS POETIC QUOTATION.

-- ---0--

TO THE EDITOR OF THE 51114*

SlB,—The lines quoted by Mr. Bright, and of
which he avows his ignorance as to the author, are
from Lord Byron's " Lara " :
" Within that land was many a malcontent,
Who cursed the tyranny in which he bent.
That soil full many a wronging despot saw,
Who worked his wantonness in form of law."
This is only one of the very numerous instances
in which Mr. Bright, the teacher of nations, the
rectifier of the Ministry, has shown his utter igno-
rance of very common
English
litera-
ture. portions of

Feb. 5, 1868.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
J. W. WORTHINGTON.

THE CATASTROPHE AT BOW.—yesterday Mr.
Humphreys, coroner, held an inquiry at the London Hos-
pital relative to the fall of the smoke-shaft at Messrs.
Farman and Son's dye-works at Bow during the storm of
Saturday last, by which Eliza Thompson, aged 54 years,
Agnes M'Cormick, aged 44, and Grace Drumming, aged
38, lost their lives. The inquests on the two last-mon-
tioned women were opened at the Clay-house Tavern,
Bow. The deceased wore the wives of dyers, and we; e
employed at Messrs. Farman's works on Saturday last,
when a shaft of some 40 feet high fell upon the roof of a
building,
some and
others. crushing
Thiet in killed
tlaem , and
witness remembered that it was repaired and 5 feet added
to its height seventeen years ago ; another said that 10
feet was added to it about four years ago. There were
appeared
was old. One seriously in-
jured
iron ties as braces at the aide, but it did not appear that
any had been added after the structure was raised in
height. Ultimately the inquiry WM adjourned, in order
that the evidence of a competent and impartial aurveyor
might be obtained as to the condition of the structure of
the shaft.