At the annual meeting of the Ilarristers' Benevolent Association on
Friday week, Mr. Asquith made a very pleasant speech, in which he recalled the origin of the Associa- tion. "I and many of my struggling contemporaries," he said, "considered ourselves in the light of potential benefi- ciaries, and gladly applauded this new-born effort on the part of our more experienced and successful brethren to provide for the contingency of a not impossible future." In Lord Campbell's time there used to be three traditional ways by which a man might make himself secure—write a text-book, frequent Quarter Sessions, or marry an attorney's daughter— but to-day each of those avenues of independence was blocked by chronic congestion, or, at any rate, by a predominance of demand over supply. Security was not always possible. He was reminded of the sceptic who, when shown in the Temple Of Neptune the votive offerings of the rescued mariners, exclaimed i "Where are the tablets of those who have perished ? " The Benevolent Association was founded to provide against the misfortunes of those who failed. Its Capital amounted to £23,000, and the grants given last year to 22,500. The subscriptions last year amounted to 21,600. Speaking of this as "an inadequate sum for the Bar of tighand," Mr. Asquith appealed for more subscriptions.
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