appertaining to the crime of murder in our own day, and especially to those cited by Mr. Bright in his masterly speech during the late debate. We cannot do better than quote Mr. Bright's own words In 1844 (he says), at the spring assizes of Nenagh, four men were hanged for murder. Such an execution taking place in a small town should, according to the right honourable gentleman's argument, have produced a terrific sensation. But in a week, another murder took place on the high road, close to the town. Within the six months following, there were in the immediate neighbourhood sixteen murders, and sixteen attempts to murder, and fifty-two cases of firing into dwelling houses. . . . In 1846 there were three men hanged at Nenagh for conspiracy to murder, and the bodies having been given to the friends of the criminals, a procession took place on the following Sunday, and the funeral was received with every demonstration of respect by the people. There was another case in 1843, in which a man of the name of Moylan was hanged, and it appeared that both his father and his grandfather had met with the same fate. . . This man, when questioned about his impending fate, said, "What matters it, in two moments all will be over." Another case occurred at the spring assizes of Limerick, in 1850. Two brothers, named Gavin, were hanged in that town, the one seventeen, the other nineteen years of age. They had murdered a man who had seized their father's goods for debt, and cast him into gaol, where he died. This was clearly a case of vindictive retaliation; one of those which the example of capital punishment was intended to prevent. I have it on the authority of the priest who attended them, that they had lived next door to a man named Fogarty, who had been hanged at the previous Limerick assizes, and they told the priest that having seen Fogarty die so resigned, they were perfectly satisfied and willing to meet the same fate.' Now let it not be said that these are exceptional cases. From the number of such instances both in England and in Ireland, there can be no doubt that they are samples-that they fairly represent the general, if not universal, effect of the punishment of death upon the mass of mankind. Certain it is, that there is not the slightest evidence that the terror of death ever restrained a single human being from a meditated crime; and equally certain it is that every committed murder is in itself a positive and selfevident proof that the fear of death does not restrain. Thus, then, the solitary plea on behalf of the gallows, urged by its sole defender in the House of Commons, vanishes into air. It has not a particle of truth in it, nor a particle of solidity. It is such stuff as dreams are made of;' and the sooner we reject it the better. As we have said before, so we say againthe question remains not with the parliament, but with the people. It requires but a little pressure from without to get rid of the hideous paraphernalia of the gibbet for ever. We put it to any one of ordinary perceptions whether the feeble position which the Home Secretary has now assumed, is not tantamount to his saying, When the people of England are ready for the change, so am I.' To the people of England, then, we appeal in this matter. We call upon them to make their final protest against the death-law, through the press, from the platform, and in the jury-box; and we promise them that in such case they will within a very few years purge the land from the blood-stain which has rested upon it through so many gene rations. ART. VII-A Treatise on Benefit Building Societies. By Arthur WHEN the number of persons interested in building societies is considered, the large amount of property invested in them, and the moral questions arising out of their management, no apology will be required for bringing forward the subject in this journal. Many of our readers are as well acquainted with the structure and working of these associations as ourselves, and would be able at once to appreciate our strictures, but probably there are others to whom our remarks will be rendered more intelligible by a brief explanation of the nature, objects, and management of the societies referred to. A building society, then, is an association of individuals, who, by means of periodical payments, form a joint fund, to be employed from time to time in loans at interest, on the security of buildings. The loans are made to members only. A member receiving a loan, gives up thenceforth his share, or a certain portion of his share, in the society's funds. The sum lent is, indeed, an advance in lieu of his share, or a certain part of it. Those members who do not receive advances are entitled, at the dissolution of the society, or on the termination of a fixed period, to share in the profits. The whole society, therefore, is divided into two classes-borrowers and lenders. The payments of each are in some societies alike, in others unequal, but in either case the payments are continued till the profits are shared. Both parties are supposed to be benefited by the connexion-one by obtaining loans on easier terms than ordinary, and the other by securing a higher per centage than can commonly be obtained for small savings. We have endeavoured to include in the above brief description two classes of building societies-one terminating when the unadvanced shares have accumulated to a certain sum; and the other permanent, but dividing the profits at certain periods. Most of the societies are of the former class. Respecting the early history of building societies, our author informs us that— 'The first building society which can be traced, was founded in 1815, under the auspices of the Earl of Selkirk. It was a village club in Kirkcudbright, in Scotland. Other institutions of a similar kind were afterwards established in the same kingdom, under the title of "Menages," and the system was soon adopted in England by societies formed in the neighbourhood of Manchester and Liverpool, and other parts of the North. After the year 1830, they increased so rapidly, that on the 14th of July, 1836, a special act (6 and 7 William IV. cap. 32), was passed for their encouragement and protection, in the provisions of which were embodied certain clauses applicable to their conduct, which were included in the statutes relating to Friendly Societies, passed in the reigns of George III. and George IV. As a proof of their numbers, it may be stated, that up to the 31st December, 1848, there had been registered in the United Kingdom upwards of 2,000 societies, of which, in England alone, 160 were added during the past year-a similar increase having taken place in Scotland and Ireland. Of these societies, there is evidence to show that from 800 to 900 are yet in existence, the total income of which is calculated at not less than £2,300,000 a year. In fact, there are two or three of them whose annual incomes are between £50,000 and £60,000 each.'-Pp. 5, 6. Among the privileges granted by the Act of Parliament above referred to, is the power of charging a higher rate of interest than was formerly allowed. The amount of subscriptions, the value of the shares, and other particulars, have varied in different societies. In most of the old Liverpool and Manchester societies the shares were fixed at £150, and the monthly payments at 20s. per share. Hence many succeeded in terminating successfully.' The success of these early societies promoted the formation of others, in many of which there was an injurious departure from tried and safe arrangements. Their projectors being eager to secure a larger profit, altered the proportion between the subscription and the ultimate value of the share. According to our author, by far the majority' of existing societies are based on rates of subscription fundamentally unsound.' Societies have been formed in which the subscription is 10s. a month for investers, and 14s. a month for borrowers, the ultimate value of the shares £120: and members have been led to expect that that amount would accrue in ten or eleven years-an expectation not to be realized except by charging an exorbitant interest, higher than is really charged, though that is sufficiently high. The announcements put forth by some of the prospectuses have been most fallacious and absurd, even to the extent of promising investing members 20 per cent., while the borrowers were to pay scarcely 2 per cent.; as if forgetful that whatever profit the invester obtains the borrower must pay. The capital error of promising larger gains than the interest charged can possibly produce-whether it has arisen from miscalculation, or want of calculation, or a wish to deceive-is of very mischievous tendency. The lending member who depends upon receiving a certain sum at the prescribed time, will be disappointed on finding that he must continue to pay when he hoped to receive; and the borrower has still more reason to complain. In many instances, the advantages promised to the lender ought not to be realized if they could, and could not if they ought. We know that money, like all other marketable articles, must vary in its price, and that though the law may fix the maximum rate of interest, the law will be evaded, more interest will in some way be given, when it suits the convenience of the contracting parties. Still it is unjust for any individuals to avail themselves of the mystery of complicated arrangements to allure and deceive a borrower into the payment of a higher rate than is current, and than he would knowingly pay. Now let us examine the doings of a modern building society, not taking one of the worst. The lender is required to pay £6 a-year for ten or eleven years, as he is taught to expect, and he is to receive in return £120. The subscription being paid monthly, gives an advantage over yearly payments it is true, and there are also entrance fees, and fines, but these minor sources of profit will not be deemed by a cautious financier as much more than sufficient to meet the expenses of management, loss of interest from money not being always employed, and other contingencies. We may therefore put the matter thus:-What rate of interest is required that £6 a-year invested at compound interest may accumulate by the end of the tenth year to 120? Also what must be the rate if the time be eleven years? Scratchley's table (Tab. ix.), we find is not sufficiently extended to furnish an immediate answer to either question. In another part of the book, however, the rate required for ten years is given-14 per cent. For eleven years the rate is about £11.4. Even if we make allowance for the £6 being paid by monthly instalments, by deducting about 13 in each case, the rates would still be far too high for a loan on real security, Mr. though the mode of repayment be accommodating. However, those usually charged are lower. Then we come to the other branch of the problem: What is the interest actually received? A society proposing the above-mentioned profit for the invester, will charge a borrowing member 4s. a month extra-that is, £8 8s. a year. The sum advanced him for his share differs in different societies, and varies in the same society according to the time when the advance is made. We may say £63 in the first year of the society's existence. Dividing the annual payment, £84 by 63, we obtain £1333, the annuity paid for every pound advanced. Using one of Mr. Scratchley's tables (Tab. xi.), we find that £1344 is the annuity for eleven years at 7 per cent., purchaseable by the outlay of £1. If then the society should terminate in eleven years, the interest paid would be 7 per cent. Had we reckoned according to monthly payments, the result would have been about 7 per cent. But at the lowest, to produce the profit proposed, more than 10 per cent. is required. The society, therefore, cannot close at the time contemplated, for the shares will not have attained their proposed value. Both classes of members must continue their payments somewhat longer. By the aid of the tables we have referred to, it is easily found that about twelve years will be the whole time required. If that period be completed, the clear profit must be nearly 9 per cent. The interest actually paid by the borrower will exceed 9 per But we would ask, did the society inform him, or did he suppose, that the interest would be so high? When a man borrows of his neighbour a given sum, at a fixed rate of interest, and repays the principal at one payment, he clearly understands the whole transaction. If he borrows of a building society the case is very different; repaying by more than a hundred instalments, without an exact statement of account at each payment, he does not know what interest he pays. Many of those who obtain advances are ignorant men, not likely to make very accurate calculations, and are liable to be deceived by a specious prospectus. The difference in commercial value between the loan of a given sum for a term of years, and the loan of a similar sum to be repaid by annual instalments in a like term of years, is sufficiently evident; yet we have seen the prospectus of a building society, in which the projectors, seeming to lose sight of this difference, compare the total payments in the two cases, and then triumphantly exhibit the favourable terms on which money could be obtained from the society. cent. As a guide to those of our readers who are unaccustomed to this kind of calculation, we subjoin a brief table, showing the rate per cent. per annum for a few different terms of years required, in order that an annual payment should accumulate to an |