An act was passed in 1864 enabling the Postmaster-General to insure the lives of individuals between the ages of fourteen and sixty for amounts varying from £20 to £100. He might also grant annuities, immediate or deferred, to any one of ten years of age or upward for sums between £4 and £50. The act came into operation in certain towns of England and Wales in the following year, and the system remained unaltered until 1884. During this period of nineteen years, 7064 policies of insurance were effected, representing a yearly average of 372 policies amounting to an average of £79 each. The contracts for immediate annuities numbered 13,402 or an average of 705 a year and there were 978 contracts for deferred annuities. The value of immediate annuities granted was £187,117 and of deferred £19,938, but a part of the latter never came into payment as the purchasers were relieved from their bargains upon their own representation. A new system associated with Mr. Fawcett's name was prescribed in 1882. Its merit consisted in linking the annuity and insurance business with the Savings Bank Department so that payments for annuities and insurance are made through deposits in the savings banks. It was further provided that for persons between the ages of fourteen and sixty-five the limits of insurance should be from £5 to £100 and that sums of money might be insured payable at the age of sixty or at the expiration of a term of years. For annuities the minimum was reduced to £1, the maximum increased to £100, and the annuity and insurance privileges were extended to all places having savings banks. Owing to the necessary preparation of tables the new regulations did not actually come into operation until 1884. The growth of life insurance and annuity business was slow as compared with the rapid growth of the savings deposits. Intended, however, primarily for the poor, it has not been without success, especially as the premiums charged are lower than those of insurance companies or industrial societies.[299] [299] _Rep. P. G._, 1897, app., pp. 32-38. The insurance and annuity business of the Post Office has been described by the _Economist_ as a practical failure because of the government's refusal to solicit business (_Economist_ 1881, Nov. 5, p. 1369).