certain specified number of years hence; with a
condition that no part of the purchase-money
shall in any event be returned. He may
purchase, by annual payments during a term of
years, an annuity of any amount between four
pounds and fifty pounds per annum, to begin
immediately after the cessation of those
payments. He may purchase, by payments made half-
yearly, quarterly, monthly, fortnightly, or weekly,
during a specified number of years, a monthly
allowance of any amount, between four shillings
and four pounds per mouth, to commence
immediately after the cessation of those
payments. Or, finally, he may purchase any of
the above-named kinds of annuity with a
proviso of a different kind. Instead of agreeing
that no part of the purchase-money shall in
any event be returned, he stipulates that, if he
dies before the annuity becomes due, all the
premium paid up to that time shall be returned
to his representatives; and also that, at any
time during his life, and before the annuity
becomes due, he may, at his choice, have the whole
of his payments returned to him, but without
interest.

It will at once be seen that C. D. has a very
wide range offered to him, within the limits of
which he may make his choice; and it will be
apparent to any one that the amount payable for the
annuity will depend on the conditions attached to
it— especially as to whether he may have his
premiums returned whenever he likes, and the
policy cancelled. As rules are often made more
intelligible by specific examples, we will select,
from the tables just issued, cases that would
apply to C. D., who we are supposing will be
twenty-five next birthday; if he be older or
younger, the same principle would operate, but
the premiums payable would be different in
amount. C. D., believing that he can lay by
eight shillings per calendar month (about
threepence-farthing per day) for the purchase of a
deferred annuity, and willing to hope that he
can do this until he is fifty-five years old, finds
that he can, after that age, obtain a monthly
allowance of one pound eighteen shillings and
ninepence for the rest of his life, equivalent to
nine shillings and sixpence per week, or
twenty-three pounds five shillings per annum. Observe
—if his fellow-workmen are in the habit of
drinking two quarts of beer per day each, and
if he will be content with one quart, the saving
will just about purchase this annuity of twenty-
three pounds five shillings per annum, to
commence when he is fifty-five years old, and to be
paid to him monthly as long as he lives. If
he resolves to keep on his monthly premiums
until the age of sixty, then his deferred annuity
will be three pounds three shillings and fivepence
per month, or thirty-eight pounds one shilling
per annum; and if to the age of sixty-five
(which few men would, however, do), then the
annuity would be so large as five pounds eight
shillings and tenpence per month, or sixty-five
pounds six shillings per annum. But if he
thinks he should like to begin to be lazy at
fifty, or to begin to receive instead of paying
at that age, then his deferred annuity,
after payment of eight shillings per month, will
be one pound four shillings and threepence per
month, or fourteen pounds eleven shillings per
annum. Remember, none of these premiums are
returnable to him in any event, nor to his
representatives, if he dies before the annuity becomes
due: should he require these further privileges,
he will have to pay higher premiums, the exact
amount of which will be specified in tables now
under preparation, but not yet published.
Menfolk may or may not be glad to know that
women are likely to outlive them, or have a
greater "expectation of life," as insurance
offices call it. A woman-annuitant is likely to
bother the government office for a longer time
than a man-annuitant; and therefore she is to
receive rather a smaller annuity than he,
because there is a probability of her enjoying it
for a greater number of years. For instance,
C. D. can obtain an annuity of one pound
eighteen shillings and ninepence per month,
under one of the suppositions above named; but
his wife, if of the same age as himself, could
only obtain one pound eleven shillings and
fourpence. There is more probability that she will
one day be a widow than he a widower, that she
will still be a claimant on the government when
her spouse is dead and gone; and therefore this
must necessarily affect the tabulation of pounds,
shillings, and pence. It may be that C. D.
comes into possession of some money at the
age of twenty-five, and is willing to lay it out
in buying an annuity for himself that shall
commence at fifty-five. If his little fortune
amounts to sixty pounds, he can buy with
it an annuity of twenty pounds per annum, to
commence when he is fifty-five years old, and to
continue for the remainder of his life; he will
have no further payments to make, nor any
other trouble in the matter. If he decides that
his annuity shall commence earlier or later than
the age of fifty-five, it will be less or greater in
amount, for the same payment of sixty pounds.
Or it may be, that he would rather pay by
annual instalments than either by monthly
instalments or in a lump sum. The government
will accommodate him in this as in the other
instances; if he will, beginning at twenty-five
years of age, pay three pounds ten shillings per
annum until he is fifty-five, he will then receive
an annuity of twenty pounds per year for the
rest of his life; and if he resolves bravely to pay
on until he is sixty instead of fifty-five, his
annuity to commence at sixty would be as much
as thirty-two pounds a year. To purchase an
immediate annuity is a course not likely to be
followed by a young man, with health and
strength to back him; and therefore we will
not suppose C. D. to do anything of this
kind. But if, at the age of (say) sixty, a
man finds himself in possession of two hundred
pounds in cash, he can with it purchase an
annuity of about twenty pounds a year, to
begin immediately, and to continue as long as
he lives.
All this, when once understood, is