We must now speak of the Regulations for the purchase of _Government Annuities_. It is well to make provision for our families after we have left them; it is no less wise to make some provision for old age, or for the misfortunes of life. Many a working man, taking the expression in its widest significance, sees little before him in the future but a life of hard, unyielding work. There is a time, however, after which bodily strength must rapidly fail, even supposing that nothing has occurred during his years of toil to break him down prematurely: many a hard worker lives on long after the grasshopper has become a burden, and is little cared for, it may be, if he has never cared for himself. Let philosophers inveigh as they will on the selfishness of such conduct, that man has acted wisely who, under some such circumstances, has taken care to relieve himself of thought and much anxiety by having something in the shape of an Annuity to look forward to in his declining years. "Most men, as old age comes on, find themselves every year less and less able to procure by their labour those comforts which every year become more and more necessary to them. A man, by paying small sums out of his earnings while he is strong and active and in full work, may purchase an Annuity to commence as old age comes on him, and which will take the place of his salary or wages when he can no longer earn a livelihood." In these words the Postmaster-General introduces his new Annuities' scheme, and offers to sell these Annuities through his department to any one who will comply with the Regulations. The commencement of an Annuity transaction must be exactly similar to that described in connexion with an Insurance. After obtaining a form of application, the person must reply to the questions which it is deemed necessary to ask, and then return the paper to the Post Office for transmission to the Postmaster-General. For obvious reasons, he will not be required to say anything about his health, nor to pass any medical examination. The Government must take care, in insuring a person, that he is in good health; on buying an Annuity, the person himself should take care that he is not in bad health, or otherwise he might rush into a bad bargain. Almost the only preliminaries gone through in the case of Annuities are, a satisfactory proof of age, and answers necessary to identification. If the authorities in London are satisfied with the answers and the references given, a policy or contract is entered into by the Post Office on behalf of the Commissioners of the National Debt, setting forth, that, in consideration of certain payments made at certain periods, the payment of a certain sum is guaranteed to him as an Annuity on the security of Government.