SOCIAL ECONOMICS OF THE INDUSTRIAL ORDERS. 



the advance. Thus, if, at the end of the year, a sum 

 of ,500 is in the hands of the society, arising 

 from the subscriptions, and the holder of 10 shares 

 of ,100 each is willing to allow a discount of ^50 

 per cent, (no one offering more), the ^500 is or 

 may be advanced to him, being ^50 in satisfac- 

 tion of each of his 10 shares. For this accom- 

 modation he is bound to pay, in some societies, 

 until a fund is raised sufficient to give all the 

 other members the full ultimate value of their 

 shares, not only his original periodical subscrip- 

 tion, but also a further periodical sum, called 

 redemption, the amount of such subscriptions and 

 redemption money being fixed by the rules of 

 each society. Further advances are made from 

 time to time in the same manner, as funds are 

 accumulated ; and, as members are inclined to 

 give high discount in order to obtain payment of 

 their shares by anticipation, the gain to the 

 society (that is, to those members who do not 

 receive their shares in advance) arises mainly 

 from the high rate of discount which members 

 in want of money are ready to give. In order to 

 secure the due payment of the monthly subscrip- 

 tions and redemption money by the members who 

 have received their shares in advance, they are 

 obliged to give satisfactory security to the trustees 

 of the society, by mortgages of real or leasehold 

 property. If a person wishes to join the society 

 either as an investing or borrowing member, after 

 the society has been some time established, he is 

 obliged, in order to put himself on an equality 

 with those who have been members from the 

 commencement, to pay up the amount of sub- 

 scriptions paid by those members, and this, being 

 felt to be a great drawback, has, with other 

 causes, materially assisted in directing attention 

 to the formation and improvement of a second 

 class of these societies namely, 



Permanent Societies. 



This class of associations generally have the 

 same objects in view as terminating societies, but 

 instead of being dissolved upon the completion of 

 the shares, continue as long as business and funds 

 can be found. The great difference between them 

 and the first class consists in this, that whereas, 

 in the former, a person must either become a 

 member at the time the society is established, or 

 else pay a large amount of back subscriptions, in 

 the latter he may become a member at any time, 

 without making any such payment. And the 

 latter class offers many advantages to both in- 

 vesting and borrowing members, which a termin- 

 ating society cannot offer. In a permanent society, 

 the investors can always ascertain the exact length 

 of time during which they will have to pay their 

 subscriptions, if the regular payment be enforced 

 by fines ; and it is always comparatively easy to 

 ascertain the amount to which any investing 

 member, who may wish to withdraw, is entitled ; 

 whilst in a terminating society the members will 

 be unable to calculate, with any degree of certainty, 

 how long the society will exist, and, consequently, 

 how long they will be required to subscribe, and 

 it will be absolutely necessary to impose fines on 

 those members who do not pay their contributions 

 regularly. But it is to the borrowing member 

 that the permanent system holds out the greatest 

 inducements, for it enables him to extend his re- 

 payments over any fixed number of years, at his 



own choice, with the absolute certainty of clearing 

 his property from the encumbrance, and freeing 

 himself from all further liability, at the end of 

 that time ; and to feel, when he mortgages it, 

 that he can redeem it at any time, on payment 

 of a sum easily calculated, and that whether the 

 society prove successful or not 



The number of building societies in England 

 and Wales is estimated at 2000, and the number 

 of members at 800,000. The subscribed capital 

 is estimated at more than .9,000,000; the loan 

 and deposit capital at over 6,000,000 ; the 

 assets at ^17,000,000 ; the advances on mortgage, 

 ^16,000,000; and the amount of annual income, 

 ,11,000,000. In Scotland there are about 150 

 building societies. Many of these associations 

 have been formed by working-men, as at Hawick, 

 where there is a society which builds houses 

 and sells them to the shareholders, who bor- 

 row money from the society, to be repaid by 

 instalments of 7^ per cent, spread over 22 years. 

 The shares are $ each, paid up by an entrance 

 fee or deposit of 2s. 6d. and monthly subscription 

 of is. 6d., and cannot be withdrawn. The society 

 is, in fact, in the position of a limited company 

 with a capital consisting of $ shares fully paid. 

 There are also many societies which only ' invest ' 

 in property already built. In Ireland the number 

 of societies is extremely small; and the scale 

 of operations is proportionately limited. The 

 Starr-Bowkett system, so named after its founder, 

 allots its capital among the members by ballot, 

 according to the number of shares they nominally 

 hold. The Building Societies Act of 1874 

 limited the liability of investors and borrowers, 

 and the borrowing powers of the company. 



MINOR ECONOMIC FUNDS. 



The Rev. Lord Sydney Godolphin Osborne, 

 whose interest in the social progress of the 

 labouring-classes is well known, published a little 

 work, in which he gave some account of the 

 working of several minor economic funds estab- 

 lished by him in a Buckinghamshire village, and 

 which have subsequently become successfully 

 established in many other parts of the kingdom. 

 Among these is 



The Coal Fund. 



The labouring poor in most agricultural dis- 

 tricts generally suffer from the want of coal 

 during the winter season, especially since the 

 great increase which has taken place in the 

 price of fuel, and when the weather is unusually 

 severe, it is found necessary in many parishes to 

 subscribe to obtain for them a portion of that 

 domestic necessary. In the village of Stoke, the 

 poor are induced to commence in June paying 

 one shilling a week each into the clergyman's 

 hands, until twelve shillings have been paid. 

 Coal is there generally from is. 5d. to is. lod. a 

 bushel ; yet the managers of the fund undertake 

 that each person shall have twelve bushels of coal 

 delivered to him, during the course of winter, at 

 his door, free of all charge a sack of three 

 bushels being given every three weeks four times. 

 The extra money required is contributed by the 

 benevolent people of the neighbourhood. Charity 

 is here partially employed ; but it is to be 



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