[58] The mortality at the commencement of the present century was 1 in 40; in 1831 it was 1 in 58; and in 1841, 1 in 62; showing conclusively that the masses of the people were better housed, better clad, and, best of all, better fed. [59] Miss Martineau's _History of the Thirty Years' Peace_, vol. ii. p. 88. [60] _Times_, September, 1844. [61] To make this statement more clear, we append a later Return, which, on other grounds, is interesting, as showing which classes of the community resort most frequently to Savings Banks. It speaks volumes as to the culpability of the higher paid English operative, that the agricultural labourer, with ten or twelve shillings a week, contrives to save more, relatively, than he does. +----------------------+---------+--------------+----------------+ | |Number of| No. of |Average Deposits| | Counties. | Accounts|Depositors to | per head of | | | open in | every 100 of | Population, | | | 1858. | Population. | 1858. | +----------------------+---------+--------------+-----------------+ | AGRICULTURAL:-- | | | £ s. d. | |Berkshire | 16,393 | 9·64 | 2 12 7 | |Devonshire | 61,558 | 10·33 | 2 18 11 | |Dorsetshire | 14,134 | 7·67 | 2 12 2 | |Yorkshire, East Riding| 25,091 | 11·35 | 3 6 1 | | | | | | | MANUFACTURING:-- | | | | |Lancashire | 117,927 | 5·80 | 1 12 4 | |Yorkshire, West Riding| 63,334 | 4·77 | 1 5 6 | +----------------------+---------+--------------+----------------+ Something of this result can of course be traced to the varying facilities, such as the number of banks, which were not always established in the most populous localities. [62] _Vide Report of the Select Committee appointed to Inquire into and Report upon the circumstances connected with the failure of the Cuffe Street Savings Bank_, 1849, from which our account is derived. [63] "I am certain," said a reverend witness, "that he was a very correct man until the temptation of such an enormous quantity and overflow of money got into his hands."--_Report_ (36).