130 Mr W. Fraser on the History and Constitution of 



culation of which the case will admit." This act also greatly 

 enlarges the provisions of former acts, by extending the privi- 

 leges of tnutual assurance to " any natural state of contingency, 

 whereof the occurrence is susceptible of calculation by way of 

 average,*" and allows societies to invest "their funds in the Bank 

 of England at 44 per cent, interest, under the regulations ap- 

 plicable to Savings Banks. This statute, however, did not ex- 

 tend to Scotland. 



But notwithstanding all these salutary enactments, their ope- 

 ration, both in England and Scotland, has been but partial and 

 imperfect. Till very lately no data existed by which the neces- 

 sary payments for particular rates of benefit during sickness 

 could be satisfactorily ascertained, and those for other benefits 

 were seldom attended to. The Justices, too, v/ith very few ex- 

 ceptions, usually sanctioned the rules in whatever shape they were 

 presented, and decided Friendly Societies'* causes with little or no 

 regard to their regulations. Hence all the labours and enact- 

 ments of the Legislature remained either unknown or unheed- 

 ed, and these institutions were consequently led into error, liti- 

 gation, and ruin. 



These evils, however, and the very great utility of such so- 

 cieties, tended to excite a keen interest in their favour. Several 

 patriotic individuals endeavoured to procure data for establishing 

 their schemes upon a more secure basis ; but nothing effectual was 

 accomplished, until, upon the motion of Mr Charles Oliphant, the 

 Highland Society, in 1820, instituted their inquiry into the rate of 

 sickness among Friendly Societies in Scotland, and published the 

 result in a most valuable Report in 1824 *. Mr Courtenay also 

 brought the subject again before Parliament in 1825, when a Se- 

 lect Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to take 

 into consideration the present statutes, and to make such investi- 

 gations into the rate of sickness, mortality, and other matters, 

 as might be deemed expedient. Many highly respectable and 

 intelligent witnesses were accordingly exammed, much valuable 

 information obtained, and the result of the whole embodied in 

 a Report, which has not perhaps been exceeded in interest and 

 utility, by any Parliamentary paper of late years. This report 



" Report on Frieiwllj or Benefit Societies, drawn up by a Committee of 

 the Highland Society of Scotland. A. Constable & Co. Edin. 1824. Price 6s. 



