The rate of interest allowed by the public to depositors was lowered from 20th November, 1844, to 2d. per centum per diem, or 37. Os. 10d. per centum per annum.

A savings' bank was established at St. Helier, in the island of Jersey, in January, 1835, between which time and the 20th November, 1841, deposits were made therein by 3206 persons, out of a total population of 47,556, to the amount of 58,6307. The accounts kept at this institution distinguish the occupations of depositors, a practice which is followed by the managers of some of these institutions in England. It is to be wished that all would adopt this course, and thus throw light upon the comparative condition and habits of the various divisions found among our labouring population. The most numerous class of depositors in the Jersey savings' bank are domestic servants, if we except sums invested by parents in the names of their children. Next to servants stand milliners, shopwomen, and sempstresses; these three classes furnishing more than half in number, and nearly one-half in amount, of the entire deposits.

The published accounts of the managers of the Manchester and Salford bank for savings, for the year ending 20th November, 1842, also gave these particulars in detail. Having reference to so large and

important a population as that of the manufacturing metropolis of England, it is thought desirable to insert the following abstract :

Number of
Depositors.

Total Amount of
each Class.

£. 8. d. 56,990 10 4 118,200 10 10

102,826 0 9

60,597 13 10

CHAPTER III.

INVESTMENTS OF ACCUMULATION FOR PUBLIC OBJECTS.

Buildings for Public Worship in England and Scotland-By Parliamentary Grants-By Corporate Bodies By Individuals-Bridges-Colleges-Hospitals, &c.-Improvement of Towns-Liverpool-Newcastle-on-Tyne-Docks-Canals-Railways-Turnpike Roads

Gas Works.

IT might occupy much space, and would afford but little profit, to attempt making a minute enumeration of the various forms in which the savings of individuals in this country have been invested. Any such enumeration must almost necessarily be incomplete, and even inaccurate, for this, among other reasons, that it would be impossible to determine, with reference to many of such investments, in what degree they can truly be considered in the light of accumulated capital, and in what degree they should be accounted as a part of current expenditure, serving to repair the ravages of time and accident. It would, for example, be absurd to consider as accumulated capital the cost of the 5,000,000 tons of mercantile shipping built and registered within the present century, and which exceeds by more than forty per cent. the whole existing mercantile navy of the kingdom. The same remark might be made, although its propriety may not be so immediately obvious, with regard to other and less perishable works of utility or of ornament. It is, however, a quality inherent in everything of human production, to be, in some degree, perishable; and this fact must be taken into account in every estimate of this kind that may be formed. The magnificent and substantial structure which has within the last few years taken the place of the old London Bridge, seems built to last, unimpaired, for ages, and yet nothing can be more certain than its future decay, which might have been prophesied with perfect confidence, even in the absence of the corroborative evidence presented by the very necessity for its construction in the stead of a work which may at one time have been considered equally indestructible.

It will not be correct, on the other hand, to consider in the light of current expenditure the cost of all works constructed in substitution for others, and this is especially the case in regard to such a structure as

London Bridge, the probable duration of which will be such that a very inconsiderable sum, if suffered to accumulate at interest, would suffice to produce its fellow whenever the ravages of time shall render its renewal necessary. If it were required to apportion correctly the value of public buildings of this character, distinguishing the part that is of the nature of expenditure from the part which is accumulation, it would be necessary to make periodical valuations of the national works and monuments; and as no advantage could follow from such an undertaking that would be adequate to the labour it would occasion, we may conclude that the task will never be accomplished.

The object proposed on this occasion is not to determine with any pretension to minute accuracy the amount of the national accumulations, but merely to take a rapid view of some of the more important objects to which they have been applied. Some inquiry on this subject does indeed appear necessary, in order to meet the very common but yet very unaccountable fallacy, that as no new loans have been for some time contracted by the Government in order to supply deficiencies in the public revenue, there are no channels open for the employment of surplus gains. Persons who argue thus, do not suffer themselves to reflect sufficiently, or they could hardly fail to perceive that the fact of loans being required to make good deficient revenues, affords in itself an indication that the power of accumulating exercised by individuals is limited and counteracted by the exigencies of the State, which thus disburses, and in part destroys, that which, being otherwise employed as capital, would in various ways give additional energy to the springs of national industry.

A very large sum has of late years been devoted to the permanent improvement of the land in the kingdom. The yearly value of land assessed to the property tax in 1841 exceeded the value assessed in 1815 by 19,081,669., which, computed at only 20 years' purchase, gives an amount of 380,000,000l. in 26 years; and this does not include the sums so applied in Ireland. A very large proportion of this increased value has been given to the land by means of the capital bestowed upon it.

We can do little more, in pursuing this inquiry, than take a rapid glance at the works of a permanent character that have been paid for out of the public revenue, i. e., by the indirect contributions of the great body of the people.

Among the most important of these works must be placed buildings erected for public worship. Large sums have of late years been expended in the erection of such buildings, partly under the direction of Parliamentary Commissions, by means of sums voted for the purpose by the House of Commons, viz., 1,000,000l. voted in 1813, and 500,000. in 1824. It appears from a return made to Parliament by the Com