In all the above cases it is difficult to explain the method of working without giving examples; but the interested reader may receive, as he will doubtless seek, every information from the popular Abstract which will be presented to him free, on application, and from the Official Tables which may be seen at any Post Office. It only remains to add, as regards the payment of Annuities or Monthly Allowances, that they will be made half-yearly or monthly, as the case may be, at any of the offices opened for this business, _i.e._ eventually every Money Order Office; and that if a person be prevented by age, infirmity, or illness, from going to a Post Office to receive this allowance, it will be taken to him by an officer of the department. As the operations of the Government Insurance and Annuity Office have only extended over a few months, and as the scheme is only in process of introduction into many localities, it is manifestly impossible to get exact information respecting the amount of business done, or tell how far the prediction, freely hazarded soon after the measure became law, as to its importance and utility, is likely to be realized. In the Report of the Post Office recently issued, the Postmaster-General states that this information will be supplied, in proper course, in his Report for 1865. Meanwhile, the following facts, which have been ascertained by the examination of some hundreds of proposals, will probably interest some of our readers. The average age of the persons who make Life Insurance proposals to the Government is thirty-five years; the sum for which they propose to insure is, on the average, 76_l._ Out of the whole number of persons,-- 40 per cent. propose to pay their premiums annually. 25 " " " " monthly. 22 " " " " quarterly. 6 " " " " half-yearly. 6 " " " " weekly. One proposer in each hundred proposes to pay his premium in one sum; and twenty-three per cent. wish the payment of their premiums to cease on their attaining the age of sixty. The proposals come from all classes of the community; thus-- per cent Clerks in public and private offices contribute 32 Porters, messengers, letter-carriers, and labourers 22 Mechanics, artisans, and skilled labourers 18 Tradesmen 17 Clergymen, and professional men generally 6 Women 6 Of those who make proposals for the purchase of Annuities, 56 per cent. are men, and 44 per cent. are women; and the amount of Annuity which they propose to purchase is, on the average, 26_l._ The average age of the proposers for the purchase of Annuities is fifty-eight years.[205]