difficulty they succeeded in hauling it to shore,
when it was found to be eighteen feet long.

These anecdotes about snakes and alligators
may possibly convey to my reader the impression
that life must be fearfully insecure in the
tropics; but although it would be easy to
multiply the number of such stories greatly, it
must by no means be supposed that people in
Ceylon are in constant peril from these animals.
Habit soon teaches them what to avoid. They
soon learn that if they leave a box on the
ground, the white ants will devour its
contents, so they always place their boxes on little
trestles, made for the box. They know that if
they allow a heap of dry rubbish to remain
near a house, snakes and other reptiles will
frequent it, and so they don't permit such
accumulations to exist. They bear in mind that snakes,
centipedes, and other such creatures, are
generally to be found among the roots of trees, and
they therefore never sit down in any
suspicious-looking place. They know that alligators are
generally to be found in rivers, and so they do not
venture to bathe in them without flrst making
inquiry. It very rarely happens that any European
is killed by a snake or alligator; in fact,
during the whole of a long residence in the
island, I have never heard of a single white man's
death occurring from either of these causes.

FRIENDLY OR UNFRIENDLY?

IN the clamour which has been raised by some
not wholly disinterested persons against the
measure which MR. GLADSTONE (whom the
public have strong reason to trust) proposes
to introduce under the title of the Government
Annuities Bill, it seems to have been
forgotten that the idea is not entirely new,
but that statesmen and philanthropists have for
a long time desired to promote the growth of
Industrial Assurance. Thus, with a view to
induce the working classes to make provision
against the decline of their health and strength,
the legislature has sanctioned the sale of
deferred annuities on comparatively easy terms.
So far back as 1807, Mr. Whitbread introduced
a bill for the establishment of post-office savings-
banks, and of a Poor's Insurance Fund in
connexion with the post-office. The preamble of
that bill stated that "Whereas such of the poor
as are desirous of making out of their earnings
some savings, as a future provision for themselves
or their families, are discouraged from so doing
by the difficulty of placing out securely the
small sums which they are able to save; and it
would tend to promote habits of industry and
frugality, and to encourage the poor to make
such provisions, if an establishment were formed
in which they might invest their money with
security and advantage." Mr. Whitbread, like
Galileo and one or two other social benefactors,
was a little before his time, and his bill was
thrown out; but the spread of consideration for
others, and the growth of practical knowledge,
have proved his wisdom; the present government
has succeeded in establishing post-office
savings-banks; and the bill now before parliament
aims at the establishment of a Poor's
Insurance Fund.

Before, however, taking the subject in hand,
the legislature has, from time to time, encouraged
friendly societies, by granting them various
privileges, in the hope that such societies, by
affording to the poor the means of making a
secure provision against sickness or old age, or
for their families, would tend to lessen the
charge on the rate-payers throughout the country.
Friendly societies, however, have, to a very
great extent, failed to perform what was
expected of them. The reports of Mr. Tidd Pratt,
the registrar of friendly societies, contain very
alarming accounts of the failure of some, and
the insolvency of others; and these accounts
are abundantly explained by the testimony of
independent authorities. These, among whom
are the first actuaries of the day, are by no
means reticent in their opinions. From one of
them we learn, that while benefit societies
amount in number to many thousands, and
profess to guarantee to their members allowances
in case of sickness or death, they are founded
for the most part on such erroneous data, and
are constituted so unsoundly (besides being
managed by persons deficient in practical
experience, and often of equivocal respectability),
that they have generally been found productive
of more disappointment than advantage to their
unfortunate subscribers. Another gentleman,
whose opinion on all matters connected with
life assurance is acknowledged to be of the
highest value, observes, with regard to friendly
societies, "It has been established by the failure
of great numbers of clubs from one end of the
kingdom to the other, that many societies are
imperfectly organised, and that, in their present
state, they are little more than a delusion and
a snare to the working classes. The
industrious man contributes in youth and in the
prime of life, to a society which fails when age
and infirmity overtake him. All the successful
business of this country is carried on by the
cooperation of master and man, and the first
evident objection to the benefit club is, that in
general it implies the dissociation of these two
classes in a business as difficult as any of the
trades of the country, in a business which is
carried on by elaborate tables, calculated by
actuaries, involving the probabilities of life, the
accumulation of funds at compound interest, and the
secure investment of money during the whole
life of a generation of men. One of these clubs
undertakes what no large assurance society is
willing to undertake, and, without an actuary,
plays with the certified edge tools of actuaries."

The causes of the failure of these friendly
societies may be assumed to be:

First. The insufficiency of the area over which
their operations extend; the members being not
sufficiently numerous to afford a just average of
health and life.

  Second. The insufficiency of the premiums
charged for health and life assurance.