INTRODUCTION.

I. PREVIOUS to the year 1836, societies then "commonly called Building Societies" had (as we learn from the preamble to the statute 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 32), "been established in different parts of the kingdom, principally amongst the industrious classes, for the purpose of raising by small periodical subscriptions a fund to assist the members thereof in obtaining a small freehold or leasehold property."

That Act was passed with the declared object of affording encouragement and protection to such associations; but, with the view, it is probable, of restricting the operations of the societies formed thereunder to the classes amongst which Building Societies had originated, certain limitations were introduced, which, in practical application, have been found to be inoperative. The result has been to widely extend the beneficial effect of the statute. Under it societies have been established, which have afforded the medium for the profitable investment of very great sums of money, and have assisted many thousands of persons in becoming the proprietors of their own houses.

B

II. Interesting information is afforded as to the extent of the operations of Building Societies under the Act of 1886, in the second report of Her Majesty's Friendly and Building Societies Commissioners. They found their inquiry beset with difficulty, in consequence of the absence of any provision in that Act for requiring returns from societies, or for establishing any register of facts relating to them. Yet they gathered from the statistics laid before them that the number of Building Societies in existence might be estimated at

III. It may not be an extravagant estimate to suppose that since 1836, as many as 100,000 persons have become possessors of houses or land by means of Building Societies. The Act of 1836, however, though so widely beneficial in its application, was