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ARTICLES

SUGGESTED FOR A

VILLAGE COW-CLUB,

(Communicated to the Reports for bettering the Condition of the Poor, v. 156–160. Number cxxxix.)

1. THAT a Treasurer and a Commissioner or Commissioners, without stipend, shall be elected for each District within the circuit of this Institution :

2. That, in the event of one or more of the said Officers dying or declining to act, the vacancy or vacancies shall be supplied by such person or persons, as a majority of Subscribers in their respective Districts by letter or assent otherwise signified shall elect:

3. That each of the Subscribers shall pay halfyearly (May 12, and November 12) for each Cow by him or her admitted, after the rate of one halfpenny per £ upon her value per calendar month, into the hands of the Treasurer of the District; which sums, when amounting to £20 respectively, shall be placed at interest

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till wanted, to accumulate for the benefit of the Fund:

4. That no Cow shall be admitted without the approbation, and valuation, of the Commissioners or one of the Commissioners of the District, to whom (if required) she shall be sent for inspection :

5. That, upon the death of any Cow so admitted, the Commissioner or Commissioners of the District shall inquire into the manner of it; and if it appear to have been caused by the wilful neglect of the Owner, or by his or her refusing to employ such farrier as they may have appointed (the excess of whose bill above One sixth of her value shall be paid out of the Fund) he or she shall receive no benefit from this Institution: but, with this exception, for each Cow so admitted and dying there shall be paid Five sixths of her estimated value, in no case however exceeding £12; her hide, tallow, &c. to be sold for the purposes of the Fund:

6. That when the subscriptions shall amount in each District respectively to £3 per Cent. upon the aggregate value of the Cows admitted, the half-yearly payments shall be suspended, until the respective Funds shall be reduced by losses beneath that proportion, when they shall again be renewed: and, if in consequence of additional losses resulting from any other cause

than a murrain, those Funds prove inadequate to the claims upon them, each Subscriber shall contribute, in proportion to the value of the Cow or Cows by him or her admitted, to supply the deficiency:

7. That no Subscriber shall receive any benefit from this Institution, upon the death of a Cow above Fourteen years old:

8. That if upon any accident the Commissioner or Commissioners for the District deem it necessary to have a Cow slaughtered, the Owner shall have the option of receiving the net value of her carcase, after the expenses of slaughtering are deducted, or Five sixths of her value, as entered in the books of the Club:

9. That every Subscriber, not making his payments on the days appointed by the third Article for that purpose, when the Fund is incomplete, or within fourteen days after notice in writing from the Treasurer of the District, shall be excluded:

10. That all disputes upon the meaning of any part of these Articles, or of the purposes of this Institution, shall be determined by the Commissioner or Commissioners of the District wherein they occur, subject to the control of a General Committee, to be subsequently elected from the whole Circuit.

As some Subscribers may only insure a part of their Stock, it will be necessary to have the Animals insured ascertained by some Mark or Brand, upon the horn or elsewhere.

REMARKS.

By this plan the rate of payment is proportioned, in Art. 3., to the value of the Cow insured.

The sum paid by the Fund on the death of a Cow, by Art. 5., never exceeds a certain proportion (Five sixths) of her value, nor a certain absolute sum (£12); the first restriction operates to keep alive the owner's interest in her recovery, and the latter to prevent his dealing in these animals with any other view than to the nutriment of his family.

Even the moderate payments, directed in Art. 3., are suspended by Art. 6., as soon as a moderate per centage is raised upon the aggregate value of the Cows admitted; as the object of the Institution is simply to provide against the probable contingencies of the ensuing six months, and a new call for contributions to supply deficiencies may always be made upon the next following pay day. This is abundantly effected by three per cent.; which, if the full value were paid on the death of a Cow, would cover the loss of about one in thirtythree, but by the existing arrangement of paying only Five sixths, will cover the loss of one in twenty-eight.

It is obvious, lastly, that though primarily intended for the benefit of Cottagers, this Institution admits Farmers and other opulent Owners of Cows to insure them; as there is nothing, in it's composition, of an eleemosynary nature.

ON VILLAGE-LIBRARIES.

THE chief design of the first of the preceding Assize-Sermons, I need scarcely remark, is to recommend the unreserved communication and strenuous enforcement of 'the peculiar truths and precepts of the Gospel.' This should constantly be attempted in the school, and from the pulpit; and will, perhaps not less effectually, be accomplished (among the lower classes, in particular) by supplying them with books, to occupy agreeably and usefully their hours of leisure. The school-boy may be negligent, or the congregation drowsy but what is subjected to the faithful eyes of the voluntary student, quæ ipse sibi tradit, will not quickly or easily be forgotten.

From the present prices however of books, which scarcely any but the opulent can purchase (and not even they, for the purpose of gratuitous and general distribution) as well as from their inexhaustible variety, which involves

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