The Semi Weekly Republican

BUILDING SOCIETIES IN ENGLAND.

It is estimated—for exact returns cannot be procured—that there are 2,000 building societies now in existence in England and Wales, the total number of members being 800,000, with a subscribed capital of over £9,000,000, a loan and deposit capital of over £6,000,000, total assets to the amount of £17,000,000, mortgage advances over £16,000,000, and a yearly income of more than £1,100,000. One society has nearly 17,000 members, and another 10,000. The income of a single society is over a million and a half of pounds. So great is the confidence of the public in these enterprises that many of them have reduced the rate of interest to four, and even three, per cent to check the influx of deposits which still come flowing in. In various districts the banks find it difficult to compete with them. The Saturday Review says: "We hear of single advances, not only of thousands, but of twenty and thirty thousand pounds, being made by building societies, sometimes on the security of mills and factories; and there seems to be no doubt that they have become to a large extent middle-class organizations. On the other hand, the Commissioners report that the societies still do business mainly with the working classes, or with a class only slightly superior to them in station. In Birmingham, in Ashton-under-Lyne, and elsewhere, they have greatly encouraged the construction of houses for the working and lower middle classes. The statistics of these societies show that, notwithstanding our national reputation for improvidence, there is yearly an enormous sum in the shape of savings seeking a safe investment."