As the operations of the Government Insurance and Annuity Office have only extended over a few months, and as the scheme is only in process of introduction into many localities, it is manifestly impossible to get exact information respecting the amount of business done, or tell how far the prediction, freely hazarded soon after the measure became law, as to its importance and utility, is likely to be realized. In the Report of the Post Office recently issued, the Postmaster-General states that this information will be supplied, in proper course, in his Report for 1865. Meanwhile, the following facts, which have been ascertained by the examination of some hundreds of proposals, will probably interest some of our readers.
The average age of the persons who make Life Insurance proposals to the Government is thirty-five years; the sum for which they propose to insure is, on the average, 76l.Out of the whole number of persons,—
One proposer in each hundred proposes to pay his premium in one sum; and twenty-three per cent. wish thepayment of their premiums to cease on their attaining the age of sixty.
The proposals come from all classes of the community; thus—
Of those who make proposals for the purchase of Annuities, 56 per cent. are men, and 44 per cent. are women; and the amount of Annuity which they propose to purchase is, on the average, 26l.The average age of the proposers for the purchase of Annuities is fifty-eight years.[205]
A longer time will doubtless be necessary to develop this further measure into the same successful operation which has followed the adoption of the scheme out of which it sprang. It is more elaborate than the Post Office Bank scheme; it will appeal, as has been properly said, to a higher class of men, to a higher quality of prudence. Time, perhaps, more than anything else, must mature it into success. It rests entirely with the public,—especially with employers of labour, and the more intelligent portions of the working and small tradesmen class,—whether or notthe unique and comprehensive facilities which we have been engaged in discussing shall have been framed and offered in vain, or whether or not a new era has dawned on those who are desirous of making small, sure, and safe investments for their own old age, or provision for those they may leave behind. We wait, as it were pen in hand, to chronicle the result. Meanwhile, those who have the interests of the humbler and more defenceless portions of the community at heart could not do better than endeavour, at any rate, to spread a knowledge of a scheme which, while benefiting the people individually, must also, by giving to each a stake and an interest in the prosperity of the country, tend to increase the stability of existing institutions.
In justice to Mr. Gladstone and the Legislature, it ought to be widely known and remembered that these measures have not been originated to be a source of profit to the revenue of the country; that, however successful they may eventually be, they will bring no gain to the National Exchequer. The Tables of working, and the mode of working, have been prepared with great care; the former by eminent actuaries, and the latter by equally eminent official men: and although some of this care and attention have had for their object the security of the Government against loss, the premiums are intended to cover the liabilities and working expenses, and no more. If, therefore, those classes whocando it will not now secure themselves against misfortune and disaster, it is plainly no one's fault but their own.
[195]We have not space to go over the ground of the change; nor is it necessary, seeing how imperfect was the amendment introduced in 1853. Mr. McCulloch, however, in hisStatistical Account of the British Empire,vol. ii.p. 712, may be said to have summed up in the following sentence the reason which sufficed to induce the Legislature to amend the Act of 1834:—“The influence of the Act (1834), so far as it extends, is subversive of accumulation, and goes to encourage the selfish and unsocial propensities by tempting individuals to consume their whole property during their lifetime, without caring anything for those who might come after them. Had Government given facilities to the middle and lower classes for insuring sums for their wives and children in the event of their death, it might have been highly advantageous. But the system they have set on foot does not encourage providence, but extravagance; and if extensively acted upon, would be so very hostile to the public interests, that it would have to be put down by legislative interference.”We should think that there could not be much chance of successful legislation if it were based upon such arguments as the foregoing; and successful it was not.
[196]Hansard,vol. clxxv.p.479.
[197]“Seriously speaking,”said another writer, who signed,“One well behind the Scenes,”in theTimesof 18th February, and had been indulging in all kinds of pleasantry on the impossibility of the Government undertaking Life Insurance,“if Mr. Gladstone must go into business, he had better take an easy business first, and have Government ginshops at one corner of the street, and Government tobacco-shops at the other, and leave the delicate matters of Assurance for the present.”
[198]TheTimesand theDaily Telegraph.
[199]Between 8,000 and 9,000 of these Societies have failed since the passing of the Friendly Societies Act. It has been calculated that about 100 Societies fail in each year.
[200]Hansard,vol. clxxv.vol. clxxii.p.1581.
[201]Hansard,vol. clxxv.vol. clxxiv,p.1474.
[202]Both Tables and Regulations may be obtained quite easily at any Post Office opened for the transaction of this business, and an Abstract of the Regulations, entitledPlain Rules for the guidance of Persons desiring to Insure their Lives or to purchase Government Annuities, has been and still is distributed widely, and may be had gratis from any postmaster or letter receiver.
[203]Thus, at the age of thirty, a person with 8l.14s.9d.to spare may buy an assurance of 20l.to be paid at death. Two or three years afterwards, and after a prosperous interval, he may be disposed to increase that amount to 25l., 40l., or 50l.Suppose the latter sum, and he has attained the age of thirty-three, he pays down another sum of 13l.13s.10d., and then finds himself insured by these two single payments in the sum of 50l.whenever death may occur. Of course he may stop here; but he may also, if he thinks fit, go on adding, at such intervals and in such amounts as may best suit his convenience, to his original policy, till at last it acquires the value of 100l.
[204]Many postmen and rural letter-carriers are insured in this way for a sum of 100l.
[205]It will be remembered that under the Act 16 and 17Vict., c. 45, a person could only insure his life on condition that he purchased an annuity. It is not so generally known that in the course of eleven years not one proposal for this twofold contract was ever received. It is not a little remarkable that now, this arrangement being no longer compulsory, one in every hundred proposers for Life Insurance also proposes for the purchase of an Annuity.
CONCLUDING CHAPTER.
“And when I shall go to my account, and the great Questioner whose judgments err not, shall say to me, 'What didst thou with the lent talent?' I can truly answer, 'Lord, it is here; and with it all that I could add to it—doing my best to make little much.'”—Ebenezer Elliott.
Theabove words of the brave Corn Law Rhymer refer of course to far higher duties than any with which we have dealt in this volume. That application may be made of them even to our present subject is nevertheless clear, and we leave the thoughtful reader to make it. Real economy and frugality are virtues, and as such are inculcated in the Christian code; neglect of them is condemned both by the moral and the religious code. Christ expressed the very spirit of economy, care of little things, a prudent thrift, and avoidance of all waste, when after miraculously feeding the multitude in the desert He instructed His disciples to“gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost:”and it is at least noteworthy, that this injunction immediately followed another, wherein He warned the same men against the greed of life, telling them that a man's riches did not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
This may be perhaps a very fitting opportunity to say that a great deal depends upon the motive and the object for which such virtues are cultivated; that it is very possible to attach far too great an importance to mere habits of saving: the motive for saving may at times be vicious, and the purpose for which and the manner how the hoards once scraped together may be applied, more vicious still. This is so palpable that we need not dwell upon the subject. Not less so is the wise medium course to be followed. The difference between those who cultivate and those who neglect frugal and economical habits may be expressed simply in the former having bread enough and to spare, and the latter having bread for to-day—and not always that—but none for to-morrow. It is by the capacity of looking forward in the present moment to the possibilities of to-morrow that the civilized man is distinguished from the savage; it is by the readiness with which provision is made for possible emergencies that the wise man is distinguished from the fool. Real economy, aided by prudence, is a virtue. Cicero says that“the best source of wealth is economy;”but it is also the best source of comfort, self-respect, and independence. Prudence thinks of an adverse season amidst the prosperity of a good one; and Economy arranges for the bad time. Prudence thinks of two very possible and one certain contingency in the life of every human being; and Economy weighs the chances well and provides for the worst—it provides for the incidence of failing health, and for the chances of losing, through one of the many eventualities of life, worldly position, or the means of breadwinning; and it also does something to provide for that time when the anxieties, the joys, and the sorrows of life shall be hushed in death.
It is well, therefore, and it is almost indispensable, that these habits should be cultivated; it is well also, and quite indispensable, that means and provisions should be used to this end. The first stone which the learned Wotton refers to in the motto on the first page of this volume, is without doubt the first act in the habit of economy; and we have been endeavouring throughout the course of this history to point out with some approach to accuracy the exact spot where a person may lay this indispensable“first stone,”where he may probably best lay the second or third, and how possibly he may commence with the superstructure.
Savings Banks and the other provident measures of which we have spoken are principally to be regarded as preliminary means, the first or stepping-stones to higher things. When a man has become, for example, a depositor in any of the numerous kinds of Savings Banks, he has only taken, as it were, the first step on the road to competence; but one step leads to another.[206]A very slight knowledge of human nature will show that when once a man gets his foot upon the round of the social ladder, and keeps it there till he is secure of his footing, he is soon ambitious of taking the next step. So true is this regarded, that in common parlance many kinds of journeymen are said to have made their fortune when they have saved their first pound. When George Stephenson's wages were raised to twelve shillings a week, he declared“he was now a made man for life;”when he had saved his first guinea, he proudly said to one of his mates, that he“was now a rich man.”And in one sense he was right; he had taken the first step; and further,“The man who,”says Mr. Smiles,“after satisfying his wants, has something to spare, is no longer poor.”
We have said that Savings Banks are preliminary means. We think, however, that they are thesafestinitiatory steps that could be taken by those of the labouring classes who wish to rise from small beginnings to those higher things spoken of.[207]Thousands of people of small means are content with them; with the Savings Bank they begin, continue, and end, and many of them have had reason to congratulate themselves upon having taken such a course: they have been saved endless trouble and disaster, have in the great majority of instances felt that their earnings were safe, that the profits were not going up and down like those of their neighbours, but were always steady, always to be relied upon, and always calculable to a penny. That these returns are really not so insignificant as many suppose, and that if small earnings are allowed to accumulate at compound interest they must make a decent provision against the winter of life, the following case will demonstrate.[208]The late Mr. Thomas Allen of Gledholt, Huddersfield, on the 28th of March, 1818, gave to each of his seven servants a sovereign to become depositors on the opening of the Huddersfield Savings Bank.On that day Esther Sykes became a depositor to the extent of 1l.
Thus in this interesting case the cash deposited at different times amounted to 119l.and the total amount of interest on that sum was 240l., of which 160l.was paid to the depositor herself during her lifetime, and 200l.to her executors. It is not a little curious, nor is it surprising, that five of the relatives and legatees of this Esther Sykes should have gone to the Huddersfield Savings Bank to deposit the money left to them.
Of the other promising provident measures adapted to the requirements of the industrious classes, the most important, but at the same time a somewhat hazardous one, is that of co-operative societies. These societies, though beset with difficulties, are doing a good work in many localities. The stronghold of the system, be it remembered, is in a town where, owing to the cupidity of the manager of the Savings Bank, the savings of years were swallowed up, and, in consequence, habits of accumulation in this form were rooted out from among the people. The co-operative principle can be directly traced to the wide-spread distrust created by this gigantic and far-reachingfraud. It remains now to be seen whether a higher intelligence and a greater power of self-government than is generally found in large associations of working men will not be indispensable to the progress of these societies. Personally, we have little hesitation in affirming that the real progress of these classes will be safer, and not only safer but quicker, if the bulk of them will leave combined enterprises of this nature to those of their fellows who have already saved money enough to enable them not only to enter into such business, but to lose in the venture. Once a man has run up an account in any of the people's banks—whether the old or the new banks does not make much difference—he might, and perhaps ought to risk a proportion in such societies, which, where properly and prudently managed, are very beneficial to all connected with them.[209]
The same remarks apply to Building Societies to a great extent; though here perhaps there is little of the risk which besets all kinds of large and small joint-stock companies. Unfortunately, however, the working-class element, which was prominent at the origination of building clubs, is beingrapidly eliminated from them in most localities, and almost everywhere the tradesman class predominates.[210]The working classes, if they have not been saving their earnings for years, cannot command and pay, with that regularity necessary in such enterprises, the instalments due; and hence they either do not venture to join at all (except where the club is on a very small scale), or if they do, they ultimately withdraw from them.[211]
Fifty other different objects might be mentioned for which the working classes require the means of accumulating the trifles they can save with the object of employing some of the money on higher kinds of investments when it has amounted to a good round sum; the purchase of a cottage, of an annuity, of a life insurance policy, are only a few of them. In this way the Savings Bank not only assists the industrious classes by offering machinery expressly fitted for their present advantage, but does an equally beneficial work in leading them on safely to higher and more important investments.
Let it be granted that Savings Banks fulfil all, or most, of the conditions which we have assigned them and ask for them, what then remains to be done to make their advantagesbetter known, and to bring them still more within the reach of those classes for which they are specially designed, and to which they are specially applicable? It may indeed be questioned whether, having provided the facilities, society should not now leave the matter where it is, to the operation of advancing intelligence, to the growth of economical knowledge, and to the increase in the experience of the poorer classes. Working men are tired, and to our own knowledge have long been, of hearing of societies and organizations for their elevation;[212]they know perfectly well that their“elevation”—for which no doubt too few of them care—must begin, continue, and end in themselves. The better class of workmen laugh at many schemes designed for their benefit; and although there may be odd instances of men who seem not to be above being turned into an“object,”it is simply repellant to the great bulk of them.[213]
A working man, though he may not like to be“raised,”may like to be advised how he can best help himself: and such advice is quite necessary and legitimate under certain conditions and in certain circumstances. It altogether depends, it appears to us, upon the person who does it and the manner in which it is done. First and foremost it seems to be not only necessary but right that masters of workmen should endeavour to influence those under them; that they should—
"Relinquishing their several 'vantage postsOf wealthy ease and honourable toil"—
do something to direct aright those energies from which they have benefited, and which if rightly developed may also in time lead their possessors to comfort, to reputation, even to wealth. A master's duty to his workmen, as we remember to have seen it expressed somewhere, scarcely ends when he pays them their wages. The men may be thoroughly independent, and after accomplishing their stipulated work may be, and feel that they are, their own masters: but there are nevertheless divers opportunities for masters, without claiming or assuming superiority, to benefit those employed under them. The master is pretty generally under the pressing responsibility of superior knowledge and greater experience; and he who sees how the worldly position of his men can besafelyimproved, and does not at least attempt to suggest or help to this improvement, can scarcely be said to fulfil the duties of his position. An employer may, indeed, be too conscious of his dignity, and, standing on the lofty pedestal reared for him or which he has reared for himself, throw down with a lavish hand bounties upon his men; and they will not be accepted, and perhaps ought not to be: butlet him show a personal interest in them, prudently advise them,“show a wisdom that shall bridge the gulf”that separates the two, and he will not only do much to destroy the feeling, which has become almost instinctive among workmen, that the master is somehow selfishly acting for his own ultimate benefit, but he will awaken a confidence, become the object of the men's esteem, and wield an enormous influence over them.
Let so much as this be granted, or even let part of it be granted, employers of labour may not only turn their thoughts to such schemes for savings as we have been engaged upon, but they may easily arrange, in conjunction with the proper authorities, branch schemes such as described in the last two chapters, to be suited to the varying circumstances of the case. If they are convinced of the benefits of the one, let them advise; if they wish to give reasonable help, let them act.
Without reference, however, to the Government schemes just referred to, the State sets an admirable example to all large employers in the provident arrangements which have been made for public officers; and we think there must be much in the provisions in question which might be turned to good account in, and be made applicable to, large private concerns. Few Governmentemployésshould ever come to beggary; if they have not been prematurely cast aside, either by wilful misconduct or gross carelessness on their own part, they cannot come to the parish: further, great numbers of them are assisted to make provision for their families at their death. Nearly all Government servants may be said to have bargained with their masters at the time they entered the service, not only for a fair day's wage for a fair day's work,but for nearly all the provisions of a Friendly Society during sickness; for a Deferred Annuity when they are past work, or after a certain age; and in some instances—it ought to be in all—for assistance towards insuring their lives for the benefit of their family. It were idle to say that none of these considerations enter into the original contract, and have had no influence on the scale of remuneration paid for actual work; it were far more to the point to say that departments of Government compel their servants to be provident and to prepare; for sickness, old age, and death, and make it involuntary in the case of sickness and old age, by taking the necessary payments upon themselves.
Of the scheme of Life Insurance at present in force in the Post Office, for example, we spoke in the previous chapter. With regard to sickness, a certain time is allowed for full pay; another definite period for half-pay. In respect to Superannuation Allowances, which we have termed the Deferred Annuities, it is true that at one time civil servants were required to pay towards it out of their salaries; but this has been discontinued by Act of Parliament, and the present arrangement may simply be considered as a small rise in the rate of wages—the deduction being compulsory on all classes alike.
Why should not a similar plan, or at any rate the principle of it, be urged upon private employers? Spite of some of the difficulties which would at once present themselves, we believe that there is little impracticable about it, and little that might not be surmounted. Even if it should be found impossible to apply such arrangements to many concerns, there is still the admirable machinery designed in connexion with the Annuities Act of 1864; and we againcommend the plan to the attention and candour of large employers.
We think that to a very large extent the influence which masters must exercise over their workmen, or which they could not fail to exercise if they were to show a proper degree of interest in their subordinates, has never yet been exercised. If reason, persuasion, entreaty of a certain kind, alike fail—as they may often have done—to induce saving habits and due provident provision for themselves and families, we confess a difficult problem presents itself. This difficulty has been felt for years. Forty years ago theQuarterly Review, in an able article, said that Savings Banks ought to have formed a sinking fund before that time for the abolition of poor rates:“If the present state of things continues,”says the writer,“it should become a question whether the master ought not to deposit in the Savings Bank at least a shilling in the pound of all wages paid by him, to be placed to the account of the individuals whom he employs.”Several times since this was written, theQuarterly Reviewhas returned to the charge. For many years our system of Poor Laws has rigidly assessed property for the relief of poverty, and secured the necessaries of life for all the destitute, no matter how largely they themselves may have been answerable for their destitute condition. With some beneficial changes the law stands the same, and is scrupulously enforced.
It is very clear that many men's wages are so high in good times, that, if they worked steadily and lived with moderation, they might easily reserve out of them a fund of supply against times of want, which would carry them through till their trade revived. The immense power in thehands of the working classes to promote their own self-dependence is illustrated by the enormous sums spent by these classes alone in mere indulgence; and it is shown again, in the immense funds raised amongst them to support combinations and strikes. That thousands will not use the means they have is proved by their excesses, their prodigality, the recklessness of their expenditure, the division of the days of the week into days of work and days of gross and obstinate idleness; and in much of this—regarding the result which follows to themselves, their wives and families, if they have the misfortune to have them—there is perhaps more real delinquency than in many of the crimes for which penal statutes have been framed.
The question is at any rate admissible, whether the same power which can order a compulsory payment of rates to support the poor, might not, and ought not, to restrict the means by which men are made and kept in poverty; or whether the same laws which make the frugal support the improvident should not also compel the improvident to do something to support themselves. Thisprincipleis indeed recognised by Government, as we have already shown, in the arrangements made for its own servants; it is therefore not a question so much of principle as ofdegree, and whether the Government should insist on a measure of coercive contribution applying to others beyond their control.“I have often thought,”said the late Mr. J. Silk Buckingham, in a letter now before us,“it would be perfectly wise and just to pass a law compelling all employers of labour of every class, age, and sex, to deduct five per cent. from the wages or salaries of all in their employ, to be invested in the Government funds for a Deferred Annuity after sixty yearsof age, giving power to the labourers themselves to make further additions as they saw fit on the voluntary principle. If it should be said that no Government has a right to make people provide for themselves by force of law, I am sure they have as great a right to do this as to make the honest, sober, and industrious part of the people pay in poor rates and taxes for maintaining paupers and criminals, who have become so chiefly through want of prudential conduct in youth.”[214]
Finally, it is upon those who will not, and cannot by any available means, be brought to apply the remedy of provident investments during the heyday of life for themselves, that we think some such arrangement as that upon which the Government insists on employing civil servants, should be brought to bear, and that, only as adernier ressort, our Legislature should consider whether it were not possible, and within its province, to apply a more complete and direct remedy by force of law. Formidable obstacles, we repeat, may beimagined, and actually would be experienced, in either case; but they could easily be smoothed by the fifty years' experience which the country has had of Savings Bank management and the conduct of provident schemes generally, and they may very possibly be entirely removed by the far-reaching, simple, ancillary measures of the last four years.
[206]“To save money,”says Mr. Greg,“and to have invested it securely, is to have become a capitalist. To have become a capitalist is for the poor man to have overleaped a great gulf; to have opened a path for himself into a new world; to have started on a career which may lead him, as it has led so many originally not more favoured by fortune than himself, to comfort, to reputation, to wealth, to power.”
[207]“I have studied the matter to the core, and it has resulted in a firm conviction, that were all the many valuable schemes which have been devised for ameliorating the condition of the masses conjoined, for safely, surely, and reasonably meeting the exigencies of every-day life, the Savings Bank single-handed would outvie them all.”—Mr. James Frame'sTracts on Savings Banks.
[208]We are indebted to Mr. Sikes of Huddersfield for the particulars of this case.
[209]Mr. W. B. Chorley, author of aHandbook of Social Intercourse,&c.&c.was asked his opinion on co-operative societies, that opinion to be inserted in theCo-operator, the Society's organ. Mr. Chorley gives it very candidly, the Editor with equal candour giving it insertion.“The working man's earnings should be absolutely safe. Post Office Savings Banks are the only means of deposit which I am warranted in unconditionally recommending under all circumstances. I am far from saying that in peculiar cases and districts the workman may not act judiciously in joining co-operative stores; but it cannot be extended beyond a certain point with success, and I fear that any attempts to push or rapidly extend the plan over a large area will prove a mistake ending in failure and loss.”... Mr. Smiles in hisWorkmen's Earnings, Strikes, and Savings, a reprint of articles from theQuarterly Review, and Mr. Greg in hisProvident Investments, a reprint of an article in theEdinburgh Review, express similar views on the co-operative principle as applied exclusively to the working classes as those we have quoted from Mr. Chorley.
[210]The first Benefit Building Society which can be traced was founded in 1815 under the auspices of the Earl of Selkirk. It was a village club composed of some working men in Kirkcudbright, in Scotland. Other institutions of a similar kind followed, and were called“Menages,”and soon afterwards the principle was introduced into England. In 1836 the first Act was passed with regard to them.
[211]“A Building Society of which I am a trustee started some five years ago with a considerable majority of working men; but in the course of its operations (on looking over the list to-day) I find there are very few who can be strictly called working men left. The punctuality of the payments, the fines, and those arrangements which are essential to the proper working of a society, acting upon men who are occasionally thrown out of employment, and without means altogether, have compelled them to withdraw themselves.”—Evidence of Mr. W. Cooper. Committee on Provident Investments.1850.
[212]A large volume might be compiled which should simply give a bare indication of the aims of such schemes and societies, including one set forth in a MS. volume which we have seen in the British Museum, entitled,Greevous Grones for the Poore, done by a Wellwisher, down to the latest benevolent scheme, and its list of patrons beginning with an Archbishop and ending with the Squire.
[213]Savings Banks are not free from an amount of patronizing, which is only very rarely appreciated by the workman, though it may delight the very small shopkeeper class. Mr. Boodle, in his examination before a Savings Bank Committee, in 1849, thought fit to relate a very ludicrous instance of this, which, though told to show the amount of confidence reposed in the names of some trustees, really proves something very different.“At one time,”says Mr. Boodle,“the late Lord Spencer was attending as manager, and a depositor put in a sum of money; he looked at his book when it was returned to him, and finding the name of 'Spencer,' asked the actuary who it was. The actuary replied 'Lord Spencer.' The man said, 'You do not mean that this is Lord Spencer?' When reassured, he said, 'Then I will give another sovereign,' and actually did put in another sovereign.”This must have been a red-letter day in this person's history, though it reasonably admits of doubt whether the incident would be matter of personal gratification to Lord Spencer, the wise and excellent Lord Althorp of the Lower House.
[214]“For the last twelve years,”says a living practical philanthropist,“I have been considerably engaged in the administration of Poor Law Relief. I could not disguise from my reluctant notice the painful fact of how large and overwhelming a percentage of applicants for relief had been, for long periods of their life, in the habit of earning wages, the surplus of which remaining over and above the cost of their maintenance, would, if properly invested, have secured them an honourable independent subsistence for the unproductive residue of their lives. Their frugal contemporaries, whom they scandalized by their example (and it might have been said, derided for what they considered their meanness), they further tax with the burden of their subsistence. They commit a constructive injustice upon their more provident fellow-citizens; and when society inveighs against the gratuitous pauper, not because he is poor, but because he has viciously made himself so, society is not unjust in such a retaliation upon its trespassers. The gracious law of England, which makes the Poor Law compulsory, would deal with scarcely more than even-handed justice were it to compel some kind of club payment too. And if it were an infringement of the liberty of the subject to compel my neighbour to support a club, it is an infringement of my liberty to compel me to support my neighbour.”—Meliora,edited by Viscount Ingestre, vol. ii.
An Abstract of the Provisions of Mr. Whitbread's Bill, as amended by Committee,“for establishing a Fund and Assurance Office for Investing the Savings of the Poor.”(1807.)[215]
This Bill provided that theOffice of the Poor's Fundshould be under the management and direction of so many Commissioners as his Majesty should see fit to appoint under his royal sign manual; that they should subscribe an oath to execute their powers and trusts faithfully and honestly; that any two of them might together execute the duties of the Office; and further, that the said Commissioners might, with the approbation of the Lords of the Treasury, appoint some person properly qualified to conduct the business, under the title of Accountant, and also such cashiers, clerks, and servants as they should find necessary.
It provided, that any person who should subsist wholly or principally by the wages of his or her labours should be entitled to the benefits and advantages of this Office, under and subject to the following
Rules and Regulations of the Office of the Poor's Fund.
1. That any proper person may so pay to the Accountant, or remit through the Post Office, any sum not exceeding five pounds.
2. That no person remit or pay more than 20l.in any one year, nor more than 200l.in the whole.
3. That when any sum is remitted through the Post Office, the Postmaster of the place from which the money is sent shall keep a proper record of each transaction, and adopt such measures as the Postmaster-General shall from time to time direct; and that each Postmaster shall receive for his trouble, from the person paying in the money, one penny in the pound upon the value thereof.
4. That cash accounts with each person shall be opened in the principal office in London, and that the money which may be paid or remitted shall be laid out each week in the purchase of perpetual annuities, the annuities so purchased to stand in the name of the Commissioners of the Poor's Fund.
5. That, after such purchase, the proportion of each person, from the amount contributed, shall be credited in a stock account, he or she being debited in the cash account for the sum expended.
6. That the dividends as they become due be likewise carried to the credit of the said persons; and on the sums amounting to ten shillings, the same shall be payable to him or her.
7. That the dividends may be allowed to accumulate, but principal and dividends must not exceed 20l.in any one year, nor 200l.in all.
8. That any person entitled to the annuities purchased in this manner who may wish to sell the whole or part, will be allowed to do so on signifying the desire personally, or in writing. In either case the person shall be furnished with a form of request for the purpose, and, when properly filled up and attested, the annuities shall be sold.
9. That the sale of all annuities desired in one week shall be made on some one day in the next.
10. That after the sale the proportion due to each person shall be carried to his or her cash account, and the money be payable forthwith.
11. That the Accountant shall make out and sign a warrant for the sums called for, the person giving a receipt on the warrant when it is paid.
12. That persons entitled to the money may authorize in writingany other person to receive the warrant, and after signing the warrant the money may be paid to such other person.
13. That any person residing beyond the limits of the two-penny post (London) may have such warrant transmitted through the Post Office.
14. That when a sum is paid to the cashier or other officer for the purchase of annuities, a proper receipt shall be given; that when a sum is transmitted through the post, the receipt shall be at once sent through the post; and that when the money has been laid out in such purchases as were ordered to be made, the certificates of such purchases, with their amount and denomination, shall be sent to the purchasers, or such other persons as they shall appoint.
15. Provides for the investment ofsmall surpluses, and the payment of the dividends upon them.
16. Provides that no payment, gratuity, or reward shall be allowed to be made to any person employed in the Office of the Poor's Fund over and above the regular salaries determined upon.
* * * * *
Other clauses of the Act provided that the expenses of the Office should be defrayed by such sums as were secured by the dividend, interest, and accumulations of the surplus arising from unclaimed dividends, the remainder of the expenses being borne on the Consolidated Fund.
* * * * *
With regard toThe Poor's Assurance Office, the Bill provided for the appointment of the principal conductor, who should be called“the Actuary,”in the same manner in which“the office of Accountant”was to be created for the former business.
It provided for the calculation of Tables, which Tables should produce“sufficient funds to answer the payments to be assured, as well as the charges and expenses of the establishment and management of such Assurance Office;”that these Tables should be varied; that they should be approved by the Lords of the Treasury, who should make them public in such manner as they saw fit.
The persons who were entitled to the benefits of the Poor's Fund should also be entitled to the benefits of Assurance Office under the following
Rules and Regulations of the Poor's Assurance Office.
1. That any person desirous of insuring his life shall deliver or send the usual particulars to the Assurance Office.
2. That in every case proof of age and proof of sound health should be produced; the affidavits in each case to be sworn to before a Justice of the Peace.
3. That, in the case of any misrepresentation being proved in the original proposals, the sums paid shall be forfeited.
4. That the Actuary may require any persons proposing to insure to attend personally at the Assurance Office, providing they live within the limits of the London two-penny post.
5. That no payment for any assurance, whether annually, half-yearly or quarterly, shall be less than ten shillings.
6. That no annual payment, nor the entire yearly amount of payments, shall exceed five pounds; that no assurance shall be made for more than 200l.; or if a gross sum and an annuity shall both be assured to the same person, the whole shall not exceed the value of 200l.
7. Provides for fines for arrears according to the time which has elapsed, and for renewing a policy which may have become void.
8. That all money received shall be vested in transferable annuities, as in the case of the Poor's Fund.
9. Provides for payment on proof of death—the affidavit to be sworn to before a Justice of the Peace.
10. That the rules for the management of the Assurance Office, and the remuneration to be paid to its officers, shall be settled on the same basis as those for the Poor's Fund.
* * * * *
The Act then goes on to provide that the Commissioners shall be empowered to frame rules for the guidance of the officers of each Office; that the Commissioners to be appointed shall deliver to theGovernor and Company of the Bank of England a true and attested copy of their commission of appointment; that this shall be their authority for transacting business with the Bank, and shall be received and admitted as evidence in all courts of law and equity, and before all judges and magistrates, of the due and legal appointment of the Commissioners, and authorizing them to exercise all the powers and authorities granted to them under the Act.
The Act then further provides that all dividends,&c., shall be exempted from the tax on property, and from the stamp duty on probates and letters of administration.
That the policies and other instruments shall be exempt from stamp duties.
That all letters and packets shall be sent by or through the Post Office, to or from either of the two departments, exempt from the payment of all postage.
The Act concludes by making provision for the punishment of forgery and perjury.
[215]Referred to at some length at page 23, and other portions of this work, where the preamble of the bill is given.
An Abstract of the Provisions of the Consolidated Act of 1863, entitled“An Act to Consolidate and Amend the Laws relating to Savings Banks.”(26 & 27 Vict. cap. 87.—28th July 1863.)
Sec.1.Provides for the Repeal of previous Acts and parts of Acts, as set forth in the following Schedule:—