Reviewing the entire subject, we arrive at this conclusion : Consols are perpetual annu. based upon the credit of the national finance: and being so based are susceptible of all the fluctuations to which natural finance is incident. Many of these causes of fluctuation we have already noticed. They are "fine weather" securities, in the sense of being buoyant when the nation is prosperous (an unfavourable time to purchase!): extremely fluctuating when adversity threatens (their speculative phase !); but never really bad while national life and hope remain (their redeeming virtue!). It is because they contain these several elements in such a marked degree, that they have become the favoured medium of speculation in the Stock Exchange; and continue to enjoy, in a greater or less degree, the confidence of gambling capitalists.

CONSOLS INSURANCE.-The first outline of the scheme which is now known as that of "Consols Ins.," and to which such marked attention has been drawn during the last few years, is contained in a pamph. without date, bearing, as a guarantee of its honesty of purpose, the name of "William Farr" at the foot of the following title-page. A System of Life Ins. which may be carried out under the control of the Gov., and would (1) Be equitable in its operations; (2) Afford the best security, and be in the best condition to fulfil its future engagements; (3) Be well adapted to the wants of the people, as it would afford all the advantages of an ins. office, and some of those of a bank; and (4) Operate at less risk, less expense, and lower premiums than small offices. (5) It might be made a considerable source of national revenue. The word "confidential" is printed at the top of the title-page; but all occasion for confidence has long since passed away.

We do not know precisely when the idea of the system of ins. embodied herein first entered the mind of its learned originator. But it was prob. either during the preparation of the English Life T. (No. 1), which appeared in 5th Rep. of Reg.-Gen. pub. 1843; or of that most interesting paper on the Finance of Life Ins. which appeared in the 12th R. of Reg.-Gen. pub. 1853. [This paper was referred to in 8th R. of Reg.-Gen. pub. 1849, p. 291.] That the subject had engaged the serious attention of some of the leading officials at Somerset House previously to 1853 is clear from the following passage in this 12th Report:

The subject of L. ins. is now occupying public attention, and it appears to be well worthy of consideration whether increased facilities should not be afforded by Her Majesty's Gov. to the poorer classes with a view to their adopting the system of L. ins., either in connexion with savings' banks, or by the adoption of other plans which may be deemed more desirable. I shall be glad if the facts recorded under the Regis. Act tend to the estab. of a life T. trustworthy and to be depended upon, and assistance be thereby given to the desirable object of introducing L. ins. amongst classes who at present have not at hand the ready means of availing themselves of its advantages. I invite your Lordships' attention to the letter and paper written by Mr. Farr in the appendix. . .

This purports to be the utterance of the Reg.-Gen. himself and not of Dr. Farr ; but the latter was the moving spirit in the matter.

We shall not stay to inquire more particularly into the period of the completion of Dr. Farr's plan. It was completed between 1853 and 1858, and in due course submitted to the Gov. The Gov. did not adopt it. We shall presently have occasion to give Dr. Farr's own version of the transaction. As a matter of fact, Dr. Farr's scheme did not contain one single reference to Consols, or a Consols basis for L. ins. ; and yet it was destined to form the basis upon which the scheme of Consols ins. was to be built up. How this came about we shall next proceed to show. What Dr. Farr's proposed plan of ins. really was will be explained under DEPOSIT INS., and Gov. Ins.

The first mention of "Consols Ins." of which we have any knowledge occurred in the Post Mag. of 12th June, 1858. There then appeared an advertisement, headed "Consols Life Policies-Explanation of their Advantages." The adv. purported to be signed by "Thomas H. Baylis, Man. Director," he being then in fact Man. Director of the British, Foreign, and Colonial. The adv. says:

The Consols L. pol. issued by the British, Foreign, and Colonial Assu. Asso, present two very distinct advantages to assurers. They consist of-1. The known security of Consols for the payment of pol., instead of the ever fluctuating uncertain responsibility of a joint-stock or mut. co. 2. The absolute right of ceasing an ins. at any time, and of receiving its full value in cash, which year by year is invested in Consols, and remains so, and known to be so in every instance by tests periodically applied by persons to be appointed by the Board of Trade, or other independent authority, according to the valuation T. pub. in the 12th Rep. of Reg.-Gen.

Consols L. pol. are effected upon the actual security of Consols. This is an invariable and unerring condition. They represent Consols. The full amount of assurers' net prems. are invested in Consols directly they are paid, and all claims in respect of pol. are paid in Consols. .... All the net prems. are invested in Consols, and constitute the L. assu. fund. Failure, if it could possibly occur, or amalg. of the asso. with another co., would in no way affect the fund; nor could either of such circumstances prejudice the complete security of assurers to the extent of one farthing. The British, Foreign, and Colonial Assu. Asso. undertakes a twofold duty towards each of its Consols life pol.-holders. It is at one and the same an assu, office and a savings bank.

It will be seen that this system for conducting the bus. of L. assu. is entirely free from doubt and uncertainty. The security is altogether unexampled. In placing so complete a security at the service of assurers, the directors have not deemed it necessary to refer particularly to the financial strength and resources of the asso. ; but in point of fact every assurer in effecting a Consols life pol. with it has, in add, to the security of Consols, the security of the office, which consists of a subs. cap. of nearly £50,000, by an extensive and wealthy body of shareholders.

Those who were familiar with Dr. Farr's ins. scheme, already referred to, could not fail to discover sufficient in the foregoing outline to fix its identity, even if that identity

had not been, as it was, fairly acknowledged. The Consols investment for the fund is the only fresh element in it.

Dr. Farr's connexion with the project in its new form appears to have been brought about as follows:-On the 25th Nov., 1858, Mr. Baylis, the Man. Director of the British, Foreign, and Colonial, addressed the following letter to him:

The Directors of this Asso. desire to submit for your consideration a plan for effecting Consols L. pol., as described in the accompanying pamph., with a view to obtaining your opinion as to its soundness, the accuracy of the T., the new advantages presented to pol. and shareholders, together with such general remarks as may occur to you as bearing on the subject.

In thus making application for your opinion, the Directors think it proper to state, that they do so because the T. they have decided on using, in connexion with Consols L. pol., are based upon those pub. in the appendix to the 12th Ann. Rep. of the Reg.-Gen., under your immediate superintendence, and fully carry out the plan of deposit and audit therein described, as being so desirable and necessary for the protection of pol.-holders.

Dr. Farr's reply bears date 1st Dec. following, and contains these passages:

I have examined the T. and statements in the annexed explanation of this system by the British, Foreign, and Colonial Assu. Asso. 7. The plan implies the investment of the net prem. in Consols; and the payment of pol. in Consols. The net ann. prem. of £21 19s. 2d., commencing at the age of 25, provides for the payment of a pol. of £1000 in money, but if Consols are at 98, the office will be called upon to pay £980 in cash. On this transaction there will be a profit to the extent of £20; and these profits are to be distributed among the Consols pol.-holders at the end of every five years (p. 8). 8. To make the operations of the Asso. quite safe, the deposits must also be paid in Consols, or the value in Consols may be paid in cash. The valuation T., as it stands, will therefore represent the amount of Consols in deposit, and payable on pol. of £100 granted at the respective ages. As the net prems. in money will be invested in Consols, generally below par, the amount of Consols held will represent an excess over the Consols claimable by the ins. This will be an additional security, and a portion of this excess will be divisible as profits periodically 9. This plan is throughout the same as that which was sketched in the report to the Reg.-Gen, except that the investments and all the out-payments are to be made in Consols. 13. The shareholders relinquish

a large portion of the customary profit on forfeited pol.; but an extension of the transactions of this office will supply a legitimate equivalent. 15. The T. are only applicable to average healthy lives; diseased lives will not be dealt with, and the securities will be national. The business of the office will therefore be intelligible to the shareholders. 23. The pol.-holder who happens to die when Consols are low will sustain a loss, by which his fellow ins. will gain. It is right, therefore, to offer the option of a pol. payable in money; and this accordingly is done. The deposits, however, will always, when withdrawn, be paid in Consols. 29. To complete the plan the pol. should be simple in its form; while the receipt for the ann. prem. should also contain a promise to pay on demand the amount of Consols in deposit, or their cash value, on the surrender of the pol.

Before the termination of the year 1858, the British, Foreign, and Colonial (regarding the stability of which so much had been said in the June adv. already quoted) was in the meshes of the Court of Chancery, under the circumstances already stated in our hist. of that Co. The Consols ins. scheme had therefore to await the advent of another ins. asso. prepared to introduce its features to the public.

That the fate of the British, Foreign, and Colonial had been in some measure foreseen may be surmised by the fact that during this same year (1858) there had been promoted a joint-stock co. called the Consols Ins. Asso. We now propose to follow the fortunes of this Co., so far as they are associated with the development of Consols Ins.; for the scheme varies in several particulars from the preceding.

Early in 1859 there was pub. a sort of pamph. prosp., Consols Ins. Asso. for effecting Life Ins. and Investments of large or small sums of Money in Connexion with Gov. Securities; Explanation of the System. Chief Offices, 429, Strand, London, W.C. In this is contained the following letter from Dr. Farr. It bears date Feb. 10th, 1859:

The plans to which you refer are described in the annexed pamph., and were submitted by me to H.M. Gov. after I had constructed the English L. table, which, with the paper on the Finance of Life Ins., was pub. by the Reg.-Gen. in the appendix to his 12th Rep. (dated Jan. 12th, 1853). It appeared to me that the system of L. ins. was susceptible of great improvements, and could be most advantageously carried out in a national ins. office, open to the working class as well as to other classes of society. I felt it to be my duty to place those plans, in the first instance, at the disposal of the Gov., if it should think fit to carry them out; although I was well aware that as the State has hitherto delegated the control of the currency to a great private co.,-the Bank of Eng.,-and left the responsibility of conducting the savings banks to private individuals, it would prob. for the same reasons not undertake to conduct a system of L. ins., however safe, equitable, or advantageous it might appear to be.

I am quite willing that these plans should be carried out by a private asso., on certain conditions, among which I may here specify the following:

The chief features which I contemplated were, the rendering L. ins. safe, equitable, and well accommodated to the wants and means of the public; by divesting the pol.-holder of the risk of losing a large portion of his payments, or of his forfeiting his pol. through inability on his own part to pay the ann. prem.; as well as of the risk arising under an imperfect audit; and by giving him the option at any time of employing the accumulating deposit to his account as a security, or of withdrawing it for use in other ways. This would bring ins. within the reach especially of young men entering life-and of classes who cannot prudently lock up irretrievably a large portion of their prospective income under the old system of ins., however ably it might be carried out by some existing cos.

In the absence of the direct Gov. security and audit, it is indispensable that the investments under these plans should be made in the stablest and the most easily convertible securities, I mean the 3 p.c. Consolidated Annu., commonly called Consols; that the current value of such pol., determined from the valuation T. of the actuary, and vouched by some competent authority, should every year be circulated among the pol.-holders; and, moreover, that the add. to the net prem. should be sufficient with the paid-up cap. of the so. to discharge all necessary expenses, and to cover the risks.

He adds:

An extensive asso., founded on these principles, and carrying them out with skill, prudence, integrity, and energy, will do a great public good. I have made in the annexed paper the necessary changes in

the plans and T., so as to render them easily workable by a mixed asso., such as the Consols Ins. Asso. paying equitable int. to the subscribers, and dividing the profits between them and the policy.

holders.

Now the entire programme is made apparent. Investment in Consols was no part of the orig. project of Dr. Farr. It is only when the scheme loses the security of a Gov. guar., and is proposed to be carried into practice by a joint-stock co., that he sees, or concurs in, the necessity of introducing, if possible, a counteracting element of security. He therefore adopts the investment of the life fund in Consols as the most simple and certain precaution which could be enforced. When the motive is understood, the scheme presents a more intelligible aspect. For a method of ins. embodying so much of the Deposit element, investments easily measurable and readily convertible become a necessity. The audit: the desirability of an easy method of checking the assets annually, and of apportioning to each pol.-holder his precise portion of the fund, was the end in view. With these objects, and under these circumstances, a Consols basis does not seem unreasonable.

It will not escape the obs. of critical readers, that it might have been more natural for a scheme of national ins. (as was orig. intended) to make its investments in the national securities, than for an enterprise trading for profit to do so; but it is clear, as we have said, that it was not the orig. design. Indeed it appears from all that has preceded, that Mr. Baylis, and not Dr. Farr, really originated the idea of a Consols basis. Having thus traced the origin of “Consols Ins.," we propose now to follow up its development.

The Consols Ins. Asso.-of the particular hist. of which, as a Co., we shall treat under its proper title, and whose immediate founder was Mr. T. H. Baylis-issued a great variety of documents, and put the Consols feature forward under various phases, so that it is not easy to eliminate these from their "wordy" surroundings, and get at the simple idea. It is announced that "parties resident in any part of the U.K. may join the asso. in either of, or all, the following capacities:" (1) As Stockholders; (2) as Insurers; (3) as Borrowers; (4) as Investors. We will now give a synopsis, following the exact language of the prosp., of the advantages held out to each of these :

1. STOCKHOLDERS.-This Asso. presents many special and important advantages to parties seeking a means for employing and improving large and small sums of money, in connexion with Gov. securities. Persons of any age may invest from £1 upwards, without incurring any expense, in the Consols cap. stock. 5 p.c. p.a. int. is allowed from the date of the investment, and 20 p.c. of the profits of the Asso. rateably is added. The int. is receivable monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly, at the option of the investor. It is a fundamental principle of the Asso. defined by the D. of Sett., that one nominal half the amount of each person's investment must be in every case invested permanently in the Gov. Consols, in trustees' names, on behalf of the investors. For every £1 invested, 10s. Consols are purchased. Each investor, on applying personally, or by authorized deputy, at the offices, can at all times ascertain that one-half of his or her investment is represented by an equal amount of Consols. A Consols cap. stock certificate, signed by two of the directors under the seal of the Asso., is issued for each party's investment. The 5 p.c. p.a. int. on the full sum invested, as well as the ann. bonuses it bears, are payable to the legal holder of the certificate on presentation. It is, therefore, a negociable financial security, having a known financial basis in the Bank of England, like a bank note, and may be passed from hand to hand for monetary purposes. The ann. bonus of 20 p.c. is distributed at so much on each share of, and not according to the amount of cap. paid up. A person who had paid up 5s. on a share would receive as large a share as a person who had paid £1. The Consols cap. stock is divided into shares of £1 each. The whole amount may be paid at once, without any further call or liability, or a deposit of 5s. only on each will be received.

INSURERS.-The fundamental principle adopted by this inst. with respect to the investment of insurers' prems. is, that every shilling of the "net" prem. must be invested in Consols, in trustees' names (who are out of the control of the directors), and held in trust as the property of the insurers, for the sole object of meeting the claims upon pol. Perfect security is thus afforded.

From the commencement of a Consols pol, to its termination, its full value is deposited in the Bank of England, and cannot be touched or made liable for any other engagement: therefore, the inst. is at all times, and under all circumstances, enabled to discharge every pol, claim at once, and without requiring any notice.

It should be observed that 16s. out of each 1 paid as prem. constitute the "net

prem., which is the calculated portion required to be invested at 3 p.c. p.a. compound int., in order to meet the pol. liability. The remaining sum of 4s. out of each 1 is the amount appropriated for man. expenses, bonuses, etc. In order to secure the steady improvement of the net prems. at 3 p.c. compound int., the net rate of int. they are calculated to produce, all the "net" prems. must be invested in Consols, in trustees' names, for and on behalf of the pol.-holders.

The net. prems. constitute a fund standing in the Bank of England, called the Consols Life Ins. Fund. The man, of this fund is regulated by a very carefully drawn D. of Trust, defining the duties of the trustees, and the powers of the pol.-holders. The fund is not liable for any debts or engagements of the Asso., except its pol. The directors have no control over the fund, nor can the present trustees be removed, nor new ones be appointed, except by the pol.-holders, who alone control it.

Regarding BORROWERS and INVESTORS, the Consols element is not involved further than that the amount of accumulated investment was to be paid in Consols; and we need not therefore dwell, at this point, upon the inducements offered to them. An illustration of the working of the Consols Life Ins. plan is given as follows:

Supposing a person aged 30 desired to devote £15 a year for ins. his life, he could ins. £588 Consols, and continue insured for that sum year by year so long as he paid the ann. prem. of £15. He would also be entitled to his share of the ann. bonuses. Every prem. paid would be divided into three separate accounts, viz... . I. The current risk account, £5 5s. 2. The deposit account, £6 15s. 3. The management and bonus account, £3-£15. The first two items, amounting to £12, constitute the net prems. These are invested in the Consols L. Ins. Fund. The above explanation has reference to the first year's prem. The same system of division is applied to all the other prems., subject to some slight variation in items 1 and 2, consequent on the increase of age of the life

ins. The insurant's deposit or banking account goes on increasing year by year in the following . . . supposing the ann. prem. of £15 to be regularly paid, viz.:

manner,

Thus at the end of 10 years the insurant would have in deposit, as his absolute property, £73 10S. Consols, out of £150 paid, besides having been insured for £588 Consols throughout the whole period, and having received several bonuses!

We are also told "when and how the prems. are invested":

A list of all pol. effected is made up monthly by the act., showing the distinctive number, the age, the initials, the sum ins., and the amount of prem. paid on each pol. These monthly lists are certified by the act., and the amount that should be invested in Consols each month is shown by them. The lists are checked by a committee of the directors. At the following board meeting a draft for the amount to be invested, viz. four-fifths of the prem. received, is drawn, and handed over to the stockbrokers, to invest to the credit of the L. Ins. Fund. The brokers certify having invested the money, and they hand over the stock certificates to the trustees, for and on behalf of the ins., who certify that they have received the amount in trust. The monthly account is then advertised in the Times and other papers, and each pol.-holder is invited to look after his own number and initials in the adv. and satisfy himself that his prem. is invested in Consols. This enables every insurer to be his or her own auditor. A detailed account of every pol. in force is made out at the end of each year, which is examined and certified by the act., trustees, directors, stockholders and Dr. Farr, and every pol.holder is entitled to receive a copy.

Attention is next drawn to the "Tables of prem. and Valuation Tables":

The T. of prems. differ from those ordinarily employed in L. ins. transactions. It is customary, on the ordinary plan, for L. ins. prems. to vary with age, and the sum ins. to be fixed; consequently a person contemplating insuring has to decide how much money to ins. for-say £100, £1000, or £5000-and not how many pounds of ann. prems. he desires to pay. According to his age, he has to pay so much p.c. p.a. as prem., and at almost every age of life the prem. consists of pounds, shillings, and pence, which involves a calculation in order to ascertain the amount of prem. to be paid. In the Consols Ins. T. the prem. is uniform, and the sum ins. varies according to age; so The pub. of the valuation T. in the prosp. is an important advantage to pol.-holders, because they can ascertain the current value of their pol. without referring to the office.

that the transaction is greatly simplified.

After all this there is "a summary of insurants' advantages" under the Consols system, from which we need take but a few passages:

2. It secures to each pol.-holder the right of ceasing his or her ins. at any time, on condition of receiving its full stated current value in Consols on surrendering the pol.

6. As a known and ample means of providing security for any fluctuations that may occur in the rate of mort. amongst the ins, there will be a permanent investment of a large portion of the paid-up cap. of the Asso. in Consols in the names of the trustees of the Life Ins. Fund.

12. When a Consols pol. becomes a claim by reason of death, the amount of Consols ins. is transferred to the representatives of the deceased pol.-holder; thus providing the best of all investments without trouble. Oftentimes difficulty or danger attends the investment of money paid by L. offices; this is entirely obviated by the trans. of Consols in the liquidation of claims. The Asso. will, if it is preferred, pay the current value of Consols in cash, in discharge of pol, claims.

20. Consols pol. cannot be disputed, except in cases of deliberate fraud, and under no circumstances can the ins. forfeit the amount of Consols in deposit.

Finally we must reproduce a para. setting forth the "unexampled security provided": It will be seen that this system for conducting the bus. of L. ins. is entirely free from doubt or uncertainty. The security is altogether unexampled. It depends not upon unpaid share cap. Not upon the solvency of a fluctuating body of shareholders. Not upon the position, respectability, or good faith of a board of directors, subject constantly to change, but upon the known possession of Consols of a sufficient sum to provide for all liabilities, which sum is held in trust, and which cannot be used, or made liable for, any other purposes than that of meeting pol, claims. Nothing but absolute bankruptcy can shake such a security.

It is a noticeable feature that throughout a lengthy and elaborate prosp. there is not one word concerning, or even the slightest reference to, that greatest of all drawbacks to Consols investments-the uncertainty of the amount which can be realized on sale. From this one element of uncertainty alone, a Consols pol. was rendered one of the most uncer

tain investments which can well be imagined-it being impossible to foresee even for the space of 24 hours what it would realize for the benefit of those interested.

We need here say no more concerning the fate of the Consols Ins. Asso. than this, that while its founders and managers assumed to have surrounded it with elements of security and stability, they, or some of them, managed very speedily to show that it had not, in reality, one element of security inherent to it: for it ended in one of the most miserable fiascos recorded in modern ins. hist. [CONSOLS INS. Asso.]

In 1859, the same year in which the Consols was completely estab., there was also founded the Public Life Ins. Asso., which commenced business on a Consols basis. Indeed its entire scheme was precisely that of the Consols Co., and purported to be drawn from Dr. Farr's plan as set forth in the 12th R. of Reg.-Gen., which however, as we have seen, did not embrace the Consols feature. The founder of the Public was Mr. G. J. Farrance, who, it was understood at the time, claimed to have originated the "Consols" idea. The Co. did a small bus. only, and passed out of sight altogether in 1862.

In 1867 there was founded in Manchester, the British Imperial Ins. Corp., Lim., which is in fact a revival of the Consols system of Ins., with some modifications, introduced by Mr. Baylis. The immediate founder of this Co. was Mr. John A. Feigan, who had held office under the Consols Co.; and he is its Gen. Man. He purchased the "copyright" in the new development of Consols ins. from Mr. Baylis ; and the latter has never had any share in the man. of this Co. We propose to take our readers through the prosp. of this latter co. in the hope of aiding them to a clear perception of the project in its new form-for in certain points it differs essentially from its predecessor. We ought to add that this project obtained the sanction of Dr. Farr, who became and remains auditor of the Co., as he had been of the Consols.

The prosp. from which we now quote bears date Nov. 1866: British Imperial Ins. Corp. Lim. for Gov. Security Banking Life and Self Ins., prepared by Dr. Farr, F.R.S., Reg.-Gen. Department, Somerset House, Lond. Head Offices, 81, King Street, and 60, Spring Gardens, Manchester. Chief Office for Ireland, 60, Wm. St., Dublin. Incorp. pursuant to Act of Parl. The details of the scheme commence at p. 11:

This Corp. is founded pursuant to Act of Parl., for the purpose of introducing important advantages into the practice of L. ins. :

1. A System of Gov. Security Banking L. Ins.-A banking account being opened in Gov. securities for each pol., to the credit of which its full value is placed year by year, and held in trust as the property of the insurer.

2. Assigning to each pol, a current realizable value for every prem. paid, such value being determined by a pub. pol. valuation T., which value is indorsed on each pol.

3. The investment in Gov. securities in trust as the sole property of the insurer, of the full value of each pol. for every prem. paid, such pol. not being liable for any other engagement than that of providing for the pol.

4. The vesting absolutely the full power to control the value of every pol. in each insurer.

5. The value of a pol. banking account under this system amounts to nearly 50 p.c. of all prems. paid. 6. Making pol. negociable securities of the highest order, always available to their holders for monetary purposes.

Such are some of the valuable improvements presented by the Brit. Imperial in L. ins. transactions. No other form of L. ins. confers on insurers such solid benefits as those enumerated.

At page 19 we arrive at another stage of elucidation :

Under this system the prevailing practice of employing insurers' prems. in miscellaneous securities is abandoned. The T. are calculated on the principle that money can be safely employed for long periods of years to produce 3 p.c. compound int.; a higher rate, therefore, is not sought, risk is consequently avoided, and the conditions of the calculations are complied with.

The channel in which insurers' prems. must be invested (under trust, as the property of insurers), viz. Gov. securities, is defined before the ins. is effected, and cannot be departed from; thus insurers are provided with the best security in the world as the basis for their pol.

The T. of rates employed is the National English L. table, pub. in the Reg.-Gen. 12th Rep., which is the truest index of the value of human life extant.

Insurers enjoy the absolute right of ceasing their pol. at any time, and receiving back about one-half of all prems. paid.

There can be no lapsed pol. under this system, nor complaints that insurers have been arbitrarily deprived of any advantage properly purchased by their prems.

In fact the Gov. security system imparts an entirely new and improved character to L. ins. transactions; it removes all doubts as to the want of security and equity hitherto attaching to L. ins.; it elevates L. pol. to as high a standard of value as Bank of England notes: and be the pol.-holders many or few in number, they can at any time, if so disposed, present the whole of their pol. at once, and receive their full values for them in exchange.

The prems. here were upon the ordinary method of so much for each £100 insured, varying with the age. Thus at age 30, the ann. prem. being £2 11s. 3d., of which 195. would be invested for current risk, 1 25. for "Banking Account" withdrawable, leaving 10s. 3d. for expenses of man., as med. fee, agents' commission, pol. stamp., etc.

A T. is given of the sum at Banking Account, varying with the age of the insured, and the number of ann. prems. paid on the pol. Thus a person insuring at 30, and having paid 10 prems. on his Lioo pol., or in all £25 12s. 6d., can withdraw 12 10s., and close his account with the co. This sum on deposit does not become forfeited with the lapse of the pol., but can be claimed at any time thereafter.

Eighty p.c. of the prems. paid are to be invested in Consols; 20 p.c. is appropriated for man. expenses. "No departure nor deviation from this rule can take place.' The mode of investing the prems. is the same as that which prevailed in the Consols Co.