or simply as " Mutual Associations," or " Societies of Equality." The building societies in Scotland are mostly called " Property Investment Companies," or by some similar name. Although the term " Benefit Building Society" occurs in the title to the Act of 1836, it was not till 1849 that it became in England the sole distinctive name of these societies ; and it cannot be said to be a happy description of them, for as ordinarily constituted they undertake no building operations whatever, and merely ad vance money to their members to enable them to build or
to buy dwelling-houses or land.The name " Building Society," too, leaves wholly out of sight the important functions these societies fulfil as means of investment of small savings. The Act of 1836 defined them as societies to enable every member to receive the amount or value of a share or shares to erect or purchase a dwelling-house, &c., but a member who did not desire to erect or purchase a dwelling-house might still receive out of the funds of the society the amount or value of his shares, improved by the payments of interest made by those to whom shares had been advanced.
About 1846 an important modification of the system of these societies was introduced, by the invention of the " permanent " plan, which was adopted by a great number of the societies established after that date. It was seen that these societies really consist of two classes of members; that those who do not care to have, or have not yet re ceived, an advance upon mortgage security are mere inves tors ; and that it matters little when they commence invest ing, or to what amount, while those to whom advances have been made are really debtors to the society, and arrangements for enabling them to pay off their debt in various terms of years, according to their convenience, would be of advantage both to themselves and the society. By permitting members to enter at any time without back- payment, and by granting advances for any term of years agreed upon, a continuous inflow of funds, and a continu ous means of profitable investment of them, would be secured. The interest of each memoer in the society would terminate when his share was realized, or his advance paid off, but the society would continue with the accruing sub scriptions of other members employed in making other advances.
Under this system Building Societies have largely in creased and developed. In the county of Middlesex alone, 1600 societies were certified between 1836 and 1874 ; in that of Lancaster, 1300; and the total number of societies established in England and Wales cannot be less than between 5000 and 6000.
Deducting the terminating societies which have reached their ter mination, and the permanent societies which have failed or been dissolved, it is estimated that more than 2000 societies are still in existence. The operations of some of these societies are very extensive. The Queen s Building Society at Manchester has an income of 734,578, and assets amounting to 910,224 ; a society at Halifax has an income of 261,654, and assets 430,683 ; one at Burnley 221,508 income, and 324,919 assets (Report of Registrar, 1875) There are also several large societies in Scotland.
The total funds and income of building societies cannot be accurately ascertained ; but the Eoyal Commissioners who inquired into the subject in 1872, estimated the total assets of the societies in 1870 at 17 millions, and their annual income at 11 millions. The larger societies are in the North of England, where, indeed, all classes of provident associations, notably friendly societies and co-operative societies, are more fully developed than in the South. To this remark, however, there is one exception, viz., the Birkbeck Building Society, London, whose receipts for the year 1874 amounted to 4^ millions, but by far the larger portion of that enormous sum consisted of deposits paid to the society as a banker.
A variety of the terminating class of societies has met with some favour of late years, under the name of "Starr Bowkett " or "mutual" societies, of which about 200 have been established. They differ from the typical society above described, in the contri- nlj bution of a member who has not received an advance being much smaller, while the amount of the advance is much larger, and it is made without any calculation of interest. Thus a society will issue say 500 shares, on which the contributions are to be Is. 3d. per week, and, as soon as a sum of 300 has accumulated, will allot it by ballot to one of the shareholders, on condition that he is to repay it without interest by instalments in 10 or 12^ years, and at the same time to keep up his share-contributions. The fortunate recipient of the appropriation is at liberty to sell it, and frequently does so at a profit ; but (except from fines) no profit whatever is earned by those who do not succeed in getting an appropriation, and as the number of members successful in the ballot must necessarily be small in the earlier years of the society, the others frequently become dis contented and retire. These societies cannot, of course, borrow money, for as they receive no interest they cannot pay any. The plan has recently been modified by granting the appropriations alternately by ballot and sale, so that by the premiums paid on the sales (which are the same in effect as payments of interest on the amount actually advanced) profits may be earned for the investing members.
A further modification of the " mutual " plan is to make all the appropriations by sale. The effect of this is to bring the mutual society back to the ordinary form ; for it amounts to precisely the same thing for a man to pay 10s. a month on a loan of 60 for 14 years, as for him to borrow a nominal sum of 84 for the same period, repayable in the same manner, but to allow 24 oil the loan as a " bidding " at the sale. The only difference between the two classes of societies is that the interest which the member pays who bids for his advance depends on the amount of competition at the bidding, and is not fixed by a rule of the society.
In 1874 an Act was passed at the instance of the building societies conferring upon them several valuable privileges, and relieving them of some disabilities and doubts, which had grown up from the judicial expositions of the Act of 1836. Building societies are now incorporated bodies, and the members, and all who derive title through them, henceforth will not have to trace that title through a succession of trustees for a society. Again, a distinct declaration is given to the members of entire freedom from liability to pay any thing beyond the arrears due from them at the time of winding up, or the amount actually secured by their mortgage deeds. Power to borrow money is also expressly given to the societies by the Act, but upon two conditions : that the limitation of liability must be made known to the .lender, by being printed on the acknowledgment for the loan, and that the borrowed money must not exceed two-thirds of the amount secured by mortgage from the members, or, in a ter minating society, one year s income from subscriptions.
Previous to the passing of the Act (or rather to the judicial deci sion in Laing v. Mead, which the clause of the Act makes statutory) there had been, on the one hand, grave doubts on high legal author ity whether a society could borrow money at all ; while, on the other hand, many societies in order to raise funds carried on the business of deposit banks to an extent far exceeding the amounts used by them for their legitimate purpose of investment on mort gage. It is now enacted, that if a society borrow more than the statute authorizes, the directors accepting the loan shall be person ally responsible for the excess.
The history of building societies thus briefly traced shows great progress in the past and equal promise for the future. The social and moral utility of societies established for the direct purpose of aiding a man to become proprietor of his dwelling-house is obvious, and the extent to which that purpose has been effected is very considerable.
It may be mentioned that building societies flourish in America (notably in Massachusetts, where they are called "Mutual Loan Fund Associations," and Pennsylvania), and in the British colonies, especially that of Victoria, Australia.
the island of Java, is situated in 6 37 S. lat. and 106 52 E. long., and is 66 miles S. of Batavia, with which it has been connected by rail since 1872. Lying 830 feet above the level of the sea, and possessing a salubrious climate, it is becoming a favourite place of residence for the Dutch of the greater city. Its principal buildings com prise the new church, which serves both for Protestant and .Roman Catholic worship, a mosque, the regent s mansion, excellent barracks for the garrison, a prison, built in 1848, a bathing establishment, and the country palace of the governor-general. This splendid edifice occupies the site of the old castle, which was founded in 1744 by Baron van Imhof, enlarged by Daendels in 1809, restored by Van dor Capellen in 1819, and destroyed by an earthquake in 1834. The botanical gardens, laid out in 18 1 7 by Van cler Capellen,
are among the finest and most extensive in the world. In
