The first step in accordance with this sanction was to induce an office of undoubted stability to take upon itself the society's liabilities; and to this the Atlas Assurance Company assented upon receiving the sum of £2,000, which was drawn from the void order fund. It was arranged that thenceforth the whole of this fund, amounting at the time to about £1,400 a year, together with the interest on its previous accumulation, which constituted a principal of about £12,000, and lastly, all the money found in such "dead letters" as could not be returned to the writers, should be applied towards assisting officers in payment of insurance fees.[168] In this manner the association in question, "The Post Office Widows' and Orphans' Fund Society," was placed on a firm footing. As, however, the demands thus made on these various funds were not sufficient, in the scale laid down, to absorb the whole, a portion of the void order fund was employed in rescuing from difficulties another society in the London Office, called the "Letter-Carriers' Burial Fund;" the rights and claims of which became perplexed and uncertain on the amalgamation of the two sets of letter-carriers; with only one of which the society had been connected. These measures had the effect of exchanging past contributions into payments for life insurance; and thus gave to every contributor the full benefit of his former sacrifices. The fund still being by no means exhausted, authority was obtained to apply the remainder towards aiding members of the service throughout the United Kingdom to insure their lives, by using it in part payment of the premiums; and, even from the best established insurance offices, a considerable reduction of fees was obtained, in consideration of the large amount of business thus thrown into their hands. By the end of 1857 the total amount insured for was £280,000.[169] As might be expected, the greatest amount of providence was shown in Scotland, England at first lagging much behind, while poor Ireland was fairly distanced. Subsequently, however, England came up with Scotland, and even Ireland amended her relative position. Still, the number of insurers, when compared with that of the whole force, was at best but small: a defect attributed to the premiums having to be paid in quarterly amounts; an arrangement unsuited to men in the receipt of weekly or even monthly wages. It was therefore arranged that insurers should have the option of making their payments by means of a small deduction from their salaries. This improvement was found to produce the desired effect; the number of insurers increasing by about eighty per cent. within three months after the alteration.[170]