Summary Of Smews For September.

PROVIDENT . The Norwich Life Assurance Society lately published a report of the progress of their business for the last eighteen months , from which it appeared , that in 1854 , they paid policies to the amount of £ 162 , 144 13 s . Id ,, which had become claimed by reason of the deaths of the assured , together with £ 33 , 372 5 s . 9 fZ ., the aggregate amount of the bonuses upon them . They also paid £ 5288 3 s . lOd . for the surrender

, of policies assuring £ 28 , 995 . Within tho same period some of the assured allowed policies insuring £ 44 , 179 9 s . to lapse . The numbar of policies in force thus became to be decreased to the aggregate value of £ 235 , 319 2 s . Id . The new business for the year consisted of 609 policies insuring £ 313 , 569 7 s . 3 c / ., ancl yielding a premium income of £ 10 , 187 5 s . Id . per annum , being an increase of the insurances in force of no less than £ 78 , 250 4 s . 8

premium of 9 , 335 / . 0 s . Id . The policies in force on the 30 th of June , were in number 8 , 510 , and they insured the sum of £ 5 , 402 , 075 . On the 4 th of September , the Railway Passengers' Assurance Company declared a dividend of 4 per cent ., and resolved to assure against accidents of every description . On the 7 th , the Conservative Land Society held its annual meeting . The Society has already sold land to the value of 114 , 336 / , 10 s . The rights of choice have invariably been sold at a considerable premium .

BENEVOLENT . Connected with the benevolent institutions of the Metropolis , the most remarkable circumstances of the month , have been the rural fete , given to the children of the St . Ann ' j Asylum , and the magnificent bequest of the late Mrs . Harriet Richardson , of 12 , 000 / . to the Institution for Aged and Distressed Governesses . On the 4 th , at the quarterly court of the Philanthropic Society , the Secretary stated , that during the last three months , 40 boys had been admitted into the Society ' s

Reformatory , and 52 discharged from it , of whom 35 emigrated , 12 were provided witli employment , and 5 either deserted or were discharged as incorrigible . On the 13 th , at the 4 th annual meeting of tbe friends of the Sailors' Home at Portsmouth , it was stated that the deposits of the sailors , which , during the first year the institution was open , amounted only to 649 / . 10 s . 3 d , last year reached the sum of 3411 / . 19 s . 9 JfZ . The first year there hacl been 418 boarders , and last year 919 . The same proportion appeared in the number of casual meals served , and in the other statistical items , shewing the growing usefulness of the establishment .

MISCELLANEOUS . On the 23 th of August , a frightful murder was discovered at Cudham , near Bromley . The assassin , supposed to be a ticket-of-leave convict , entered a cottage with the object of robbing it , but being opposed by the wife of its owner , he brutally murdered her , and savagely beat an old woman , the husband's mother . The Overland Mail , received the same day , brought the intelligence of a shocking scene of bloodshed , perpetrated in a road near Canton , where some hundreds of the Chinese rebels

were put to death by decapitation , as a punishment for their disaffection . The same mail also brought tidings of a dangerous insurrection of the Santals , a people inhabiting the Razmahal territory , in the Bengal Presidency . The outbreak has been attributed to tyrannical rule on the part of the servants of the East India Company . The Birmingham Musical Festival in aid of the funds for the support of the General Hospital , commenced this day , and closed upon the 31 st . The total receipts amounted to 11 , 537 / . 5 s- 3 c / ., being an increase of 898 / . 16 s ., on those of last year . On the 29 th , a coroner ' s jury at . Dover , returned a verdict of Manslaughter against the officers in charge of the "Vivid , " a steam vessel belonging to the Dover , Calais , and Ostend Company , wliich had , as mentioned in our summary last month , run down