The recommendations made to and approved by the Select Committee of 1852 on Friendly Societies, with reference to the abolition or reduction of the duties payable in respect of policies for life assurance, have been acted upon more promptly than could well have been hoped for. The duties, it is true, have not been partly abolished in the way suggested, but the reduction now effected is so considerable as to make them fall very lightly upon those who will hereafter have to pay them.