“That in determining the amount of relief, regard should be had to the propriety or impropriety of the conduct which has led to its necessity. “That at occasional annual meetings,—say once in ten years,—it is desirable to consider whether it might not be expedient to close the Family Fund account, and divide the whole among the undersigned, or their wives and their descendants. It is the present opinion of the undersigned that such a step will probably be expedient, when all their children shall have attained adult age, with a view, perhaps, of a similar arrangement being entered into by such of their descendants as may desire it. “That in the ultimate division of the Fund, regard should be had first to the unmerited necessities of the respective families; secondly, to the amount of aid which shall have been previously afforded to each from the Fund; and, lastly, to the total amount contributed.” The Family Fund existed for many years. At last it had done its work, and it was brought to a close. Whereupon the four brothers issued the following address to “the junior members of the Hill family”:— “Many of you know that until lately there existed, under the name of the Family Fund, a joint property formed by contributions from several members of the family, and intended to serve as a security against pecuniary distress on the part either of the subscribers, or of those immediately dependent on them. As each of us who did so subscribe subsequently accumulated property sufficient for the limited security required, as the above arrangement was attended with trouble, and, in the unsatisfactory state of the laws respecting property, might, at some future time, have caused serious difficulties, we brought it to a close, and divided the property of which we had thus been joint owners. “As this dissolution is liable to misapprehension, we think it may be useful to you to be informed that it proceeds from no distrust of the principle on which the Family Fund was established; which, indeed, we still regard as perfectly sound in itself, and, under a better state of the law, equally applicable to any set of persons who, having confidence in each other, are yet, individually, of such limited means, as to stand exposed to risk of pecuniary difficulties. “The principle involved is simply that of insurance, founded on the undoubted fact that want is a greater evil than wealth, beyond a simple competence, is a benefit; and that, consequently, where the income is either terminable or uncertain, it is wise, after providing the necessaries of life, to employ at least a part of the remainder in purchasing security for the future.