In many societies it is a common practice to ballot amongst the members for the right to receive an advance (sometimes without carrying interest) which right may be transferred, for a consideration, to some other member. By this table it will be seen that a person borrowing £100 for ten years would have to repay the amount by monthly instalments of £1 3s. 5d., or by quarterly instalments of £3 10s. 7d., and if borrowing for a term of twenty-one years, then by monthly instalments of 14s. 11d., or quarterly of £2 5s. Now, if we refer to the depositor's table of rates, we shall find that he has, for a ten years' term, paid to the society £78, and received back £100; thus receiving from the society £22 (the difference) for the use of the money, plus the interest added. On the other hand, a borrower of £100 for the same term pays back, beyond the capital sum of £100, as much as £40 2s. in interest. Thus there is a difference of £18 2s. between the interest received by the depositor and that paid by the borrower. This constitutes the gross gain of the society on these trans- actions, but out of it has to be paid the expenses of the office, salaries of officials, and a reserve provided for bad debts, &c. The social and moral utility of societies estab- lished for the direct purpose of aiding a man to become proprietor of his dwelling-house is obvi- ous, and the above calculations seem to show that a society conducted on the plan represented would earn an ample margin of profit for all contingencies. Doubtless the greater number of the existing building societies, including the one whose figures have been quoted, are conducted in a safe and legitimate manner, but there have been, and may still be, exceptions. As an inducement to join a building society, people are told that they have to pay, on the instalment system, the same as though they paid the rent of a house, and in a few years will become the owner. A man who has paid for three or four years only what he would have paid for rent, would have very little hesitation in throwing up his contract with the society, if the locality became objectionable to him or the in- evitable repairs of a cheap house were more than he could bear. The money borrowed is lent chiefly upon the security of small suburban houses, a kind of property always in course of depreciation, and it may be that the society would have returned upon its hands a number of houses in a bad state of repair and in a dete- riorating locality. The instalments having ceased and the houses void, the property becomes a profitless burden upon the society and a probable ultimate loss. When "jerry" builders are large customers of a building society and have some influence, direct or indirect, with its Board of Directors, the evil is greatly aggravated. Whole streets are built with borrowed money, on specu- lation until, perhaps, there are twice as many houses as can possibly be let.