The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-01-04 00:00:00

The LORD CHANCELLOR on FRIENDLY

SOCIE rms.

On Friday evening, in hod week, • meeting washeld
in the School-room of Liphook, a mall village in
Hampshire, with a view to the formation of a district
branch of "The National Deposit Friendly Snciety."
Considorable interest woe attadied to the proceedings
in cons quence of the announcement that the chair
would be taken by Lord Selborne.
The Lord Chancellor, in hie opening observations,
said that everybody must feel an interest iv the best
means of promoting provident and prudent habite
among the labourers of every ClaBP, which will enabl-
them to make the mostof their opoortunities of econo-
mizing their industry and securing a provision against
the time of dh-tress or that inevitable time which most
arrive to all of us when we are no longer able of our-
selves to do anything on behalf of those for whom we
are desirous of making provision. He then pro-
ceeded :

"You know, no doubt, that the principle of Life Assurance
n particular is one which havipg been discovered not so very
long ago—probably not more than a century ago at most—
has become of universal application among all persons whose
means enable them to take advantage of it. These, for the
most part, are person, who have a certain income for their
lives, whether professional men depending on what they
can gain by their profession— clergymen, or lawyers, or
°these of the professional classes—who have incomes more
or less mewed for their lives, and who feel it to be their
duty to provide for their wives or children, or others rely.
fog upon them. The uncertainties of life render it of
course Impossible to foretell how much, by merely laying by
so notch out of their own store, they may be enabled to do
for those perenne for whom they are bound to provide:
but the discovery of Life Assurance mishits, ensurers by the
paymeut of certain small WM. every year, in propor-
tion to the benefit to he obtained, to make sure that so
long 11,1 they keep up these payments, if they should be and.
denly cut off, there will be a certain tiled provision for
those whom they leave behind Thus, the prudent saving
of a small sum out of every yea?' income, of a moderate
amount, places many a man who lahmrs hard in his calling,
and who knows the fruits of it will cease with his life,
beyond the reach of care and Anxiety on account of those
for whom lie has to provtle This has become so recur-
nised among the more highly educated professions that it
is regaried as SOUlethillg very much like • moral and abso-
lute duty to use those means of provision for the future. The
advantage is well understood, and accordingly life income is
made to a certain intent permanent.
"Now, we know that for those whose incomes are smaller
and more precarious mei are dependent on daily labour this
syetem of Life Assurance which I nave demeaned would be
less available. 1,10 not say that in all oases it would be nil
availabie, because a good naany artimes and others who
probably receive very good wages, if they husbanded their
earnings and did not waste them or spend them unthriftily,
might rise very easily in the scale of society, and provide for
their families in the way I have been describing ; but for
Ph 'se who are poorer there is another method, founded on
them rne principle—namely, the method of Friendly Societies
by which provision is made against the exigencies of life—
sick ess and old age and other accidents which prevent
persons from miroing the same wages they once did. The
principle of such Societies is very well recognized, and every
well-. isher of the labouring classes is desirous ot seeing
them, if wisely managed, made use of to a great extent. I
ani very glad to know they are so made use of, and that
their velum is generally kno•n among the parsons of them
classes who, while their health and strength remain, wish to
make provision for souther time. But it Is very important
that such provision should be wisely made.
" You are all familiar with the names of the Odd Fellows,
the Foresters, and other Friendly Societies. I should not
at all like to take upon myself the task of saying which are
good and which are not so good ; but this every one must
know who has studied the question—that there are good and
there are had ours, and thst the difference between the good
and the bad must depend upon several things. In the lirst
place, it depends upon whether they have good and wise
rules, or rules which are not good and wise. Next, it de-
pends on their baying good arid wise management, or man-
agement which is had and uuthrifty. Lastly, it depends on
the number of persons Joined together in each Society, and
whose mutual subscriptions help to keep it going, and to
provide for the calls, the members make upon it. Now,
first, I will speak of the importacee of having a large,
rather than a small, liociety for this purpose. In every
Assurance Society of every kind, whether Friendly or
on a larger scale, the principle is this the good chances
are rim against the had, so that the payments which
have to be :wide in the time of sicknees and in time of
old age, end in the ease of these Life Assurance Companies
at time of death, are provided for by mean, of the
motleys which are paid li, from time to time by the large
autuher of persons who have not occasion to draw moneys
oat. If the drawingseut exceed lathe long run the comings-
in, of course the Society will become bankrupt sooner or
later. If it, any Society the C0M411401-111E xceed in the tome run
the drawines out the Society will pay it. way. It will be
able to accumulate profits, and, if 'the rules so provide, to
divide them among members Now the fewer the persons
belonging to a 8 clety, of eourse the less the clueless that
the contributions of those who do not draw money out will
exceed the coutributioes of those who do draw it out; and
the system which will be recommended to yids this evening
has this advantage over small Local Societies—that it will he
extended over a large district and include a lame number of
subscribers, who, if they fulfil the 000ditiours the Society m-
poses, will, in the maJorey of cases, he respectable, healthy,
and good sulacrihers, the whole of whose hinds over the
entire district will he • guaraetee and security to all the
subs Tiber, of their reght to draw out moneys to which they
will be entitled In ease of s'ekness or of old age. In that
respect there is a difference between the system which will
be reeommenired to you to-Light and that of many of the
Societies I have mentioned. Yoe instance. the Odd Fellows
Society comprehends • great nember of lodges. The
Foresters and others are similar ; but you would be very
amen mistaken if you were to set:mese that in any eunserip-
tions to a club of that deseription you would have the
security of all the lodges of the Odd Fellows or the lh resters
all over th. Kingdom. It Is not so. You would have the
security of your own partionlar lodge and nothing more;
but the system which will be reeonimended to you gives the
security of the aasociation of clubs extending i mer a large
di-triet and Including a great number if suhecribers, if the
rowan should be generally accepted, and therefore gives
yen a security which cannot be obtained without • large
number. (Hear, hear.)
"Then as to the management. A small Society In one
plare mnst he depender: t probably on •small number of per-
sons, shic to give some degree of time and attention to its
affairs in that particular place, and who are usually members
of, and setae:ethers to, the Society itself. Thee may be
honest and intelligent teo Sons: but it is also possible, and,
miefortianately, it has been proved to be the ease in some in-
stances. that they may be the reverse 44 all that. At all
emits, the security le men less if you have a small number
of local subscribers to choose amorig than if you can velvet
from a large district and from a huger number the test per-
ilous you can get to take an interest in the else management
of the society. The plan which will be recommendeo to you
to sight will provide f.,r the management ever a considerable
di, trice taking persons from all classes interested in the
Society mho:ahem tris'esmen, locel clergymen, and
others, will all be invited to take apart in the management,
sod will see that the Society is noenaged on a good system;
that the accounts shall he regular-I, token and the invest-
ments regularly looked after, and everything overhauled by
intelligent and proper persons. That security is greater than
CYR be obtained when you have • single small club in •
single village town, or other place.

"Then, with respect to Rules, there are one or two faults
often found with such Societies. First of all, their calculi,
hone are sometimes unsound. They do not allow enough for
risks, and they give or deer too much In the way el
Assurance. If the Rules are drawn up on that principle, the
Society mutt break down sooner or later. I do not profess
to be capable of judging all the questions, which are ques-
tions of arithmetic and experience in sue, matters, and
which must lie considered hy those who will umsertake to
say whether such Societies are founded on safe or unsound
prhiciples butt place confidence not only in those who ad-
vocate the principle which will be introduced to your
notice, but also on the experience which has been had of its
working at Abbottion, unoer Mr. Best. I believe the Roles
have been well considered, and that the payments in and out
are establbhed on sound mithmetical principles and in ac-
cordance with experience.
"BM that is not all, mire are one or two other points
In the rules of the Society of great importance. One is, that
the society should offer no indecent, nt which could possibly
be avoided to improper drawings-out on the part of members
one wasteful expenditure on the part of members of the
society. Suppose that. member has subscribed for a certain
period of time, and has no chance of ever setting anything
out if the Society unless he should fall sick, or be out
of semi,. or that some other accident should happen to
him,— I do not Imagine that many here present can put
themselves in the position I am supposing, but there are
some persons who fall sick—l do not any on purpose—
or who get oust of work—l do not say on purpose—hot who
are much less careful to work as long sa they can, and
he are much more willing to fall buck upon the club than
if they hail other nieans of getting anything out of It. Now
this Society combines two things not always or gelierally
combined In clubs ef this kind One Is, the ordluary relief
which ell Friendly Societies give as an allowance to their
members in time of sickness and distress ; the other is, what
ash clubs do not gemerally profess to eive—namely, the re-
hire of a certain I roportion of the money paid in, and which
is not wanted, Recorder( to the rules, for payment to the
ether members.

Now as to this club : it will be at once a Savings Bank,
In respect of the surphis beyind what hsa to be Graven for
weemliers in times f sicknese and (Belem , and it will be an
ordinary benefit society for those member, who require as-
sistance. Let me put the case of a person having been sub-
scribing for a ci Yale number of years thinking it is high
time that he ahonld be getting some thing out of the club.
Well, that person, instead of feeling that he should get
little loon in his work, or make the melt of • cold (a laugh),
would say, I have got so muck laid up In store In this club,
and the leneer I can keep my health the Inger and more
certain will be the provivion for me and my family after-
wards If I die, there will be ao much for my wife end
children to draw cut or if I sheteid fall into such eircum•
itances that I should want to draw it out myself, Icon dose.
Instead, therefore, of leaving off his subscription, he hes an
Inducement to continue it, seeing that in such case the
Society is a, Saving. Bank, mid not merely a Society for relief
n case of sickness, or some other inevitable accident.
(Wear, hear.) Here, then, you have a society which unites
the benefits of the ordinary Friendly Society with those of
the Savings-Bank, and which gives to members not actually
I. distress every possible in, ueement to go on Insuring
against Menem and assuring their lives, with a power even
in their own lifetime, if they like, to withdraw and take out
elicit. motley. There is the principle also—a feature, no
doubt, in all Benefit Societies, but one which assumes a
more definite shape in this—that every man who draws any-
thing out of the society trust have contributed a fixed pro-
portion of what he draws out, ad that he will cease to draw
oat when he can no longer be said to have himself con-
tributed to what would be paid him If he were to draw out.
" There is one other thing which has attracted attention In
respect of other Societies—the ton great use of the public-
hoese, by which a great deal of money Is wasted. I
think it is not the lent of the advantage, of a well orga-
nized Dhstrict Society, extending over a conelderable field,
that the management should be In the hands of persons
who have no particular inclination to be too much in the
publichonse. It affords great security against squandering
and dissipating the (wide of the Society in wasteful enter-
tainment. at those houses. This has a double advantage,
because, in the first place, the funds were thus sgnandered
and dissipated, sad, in the second place, mischief was dime
to every one who participated in such proceedings. I be-
lien the system which will lie brought under your notice
In es free from the evils I have referred to as any sys-
tem can well be. It has been tried, I understand, with con-
siderable success, and on a not inconsiderable scale, in a
part of Etiglatid not very far from this pl.ce. I think, there-
fore, you may well comider whether you ought not to in.
troduce this society here. (Hear. hear.) For myself, I call
only say one thing—that I do not desire to make mi self re-
sponaible for the • •eteils if F1133' system of which I have not
had personal knowledge. I believe it to be a good one from
the confidence I place in the judgment of those who recom-
mend it, and teem what fees of its principles as they appear
on paper hut what I have felt. end what makes me glad to
be here to-night, is, that I am persuaded Ise cannot do more
good to ocumeives and to each other than by promoting those
provident, saving, and thrifty Wilts which have in view not
only our wn good and comfort, but the good and comfort
of our wives and children. By these means even those who
have the smallest wages may materially improve their cou-
dltion, anti those who have good sinning. may not only do
that, but may raise thsmselves, or, if n. t themseivi s, their
children, step by step, to any position open to the ireenien
of this country." (Caesars)

On the motion of the Re". J. W. Cape, seconded by the
Rev. 0 Jet?, a remolution was ad .pted which stated that it
was vieC rabic to form a Provident S clety in that igh.
bourhood founded on wide principles and on a sound basis

oo—••- .
The Rev. (31..1t Portal, in proposing the tiecond roe dution,
elated the MY features of the plan cd "The National De-
posit Friendly Society." /le said there was one disadvantage
about Fri t mll7 0 cleties founded on the ordin .r) princ plea,
and It was thla—that, in order to unto the 1. articubfr
Society secure, the tables wire made so high that In .0 or
00 peon some of them f-und th-ms-fves IR possession of
docks to the amount of £60,000 or £bo,ooo, which was looked
up in the Bank of England, instead of being divided for the
benefit of the members, though there was a moral cer-
tainty that It ue‘er could be wanted for the ordinary pur-
poses of the society. He did not complain that the tables
were fired high. On the contrary, he thought it was right,
bemuse It made the Owlet, lain; but one result ol a Society

having £60,000 or £60,300 lying Idle in Bank Stock wu, as
the Lord Chancellor had hinted, to induce a member to
make the most of a bad headache In order that be might get
some of his money back from the club. If a member never
woe ill at all, or never made the most of a small Illness—(e
taugh)—he mieht have paid, perhaps, £6O or £7O into the
clue without either him or his family ever having received
a halfpenny out of it This was tine of the reesons why so
ten persons, comparatively speaking, joined Friehdly Socie-
ties. Those disivi vantages were considered by Mr. Best
about 40 years ago, and lei to the formation of • new
Friendly Society at A hintaon. It had gone on !tourist:dog
ever since, and about four years ago the principle of the
Abbotem society was introduced in Surrey. Since then
1,000 members had enrolled themselves, and it had been de-
, ermined to establish an extensive organization under the
name of the National Deposit Friendly Society. The mem-
bers agreed to help each other in sickness and in old age on
one condition—that of the money by which • member
Is to be relieved he himself must contribute one-fourth,
the other members of the society coutriouting three-
fourthe. The Society brought a Savings-Bank to every mana
door. It said even to the boy who went out " bird-keepine. '
"You put In whatever small sums you can, and when they
amount to £1 we shall give you Put, nice Savings-Bank
Mt 4 rest. It said to the labourer, Whatever ton can save
put into the bank, and when you are ill, to long as what
you have put to produces one-fourth of the sum you have
stipulated to have paid out to you, the other members will
make up the remaining three-fourths." If the labourer
made deposits in the bank of the Society his deposits would
be available for him In case of distress. lithe tradesman
did the same he would have them to draw on In case he
wattled to increase his stock. The manner in which
provision for the sick-fund was made was this:—When
a member joined the club he was asked how much
a day he would require In case he fell sick. The
Society did not care what the amount per week was.
If it was Ott., the member who stipulated for it must
pay in GI a month If it was 2s. Gd ,he must pay in 2s. ed.
a month, and so on Well, In case he fell sick he worth",
rec-lee as much per week as he had paid per month, the
other members paying the three-fourths and this would be
continued so long as the sick member's payments continued
to mate asp ene fourth of the sum allowed him. If, at the
end of the year, the Club found that nothing like the common
Mck.fund had been expended—and in Surrey the experience
had hitherto been that, at the and of the year, only 9d in
every shilling of it had been expended—lustead of the lsalance
of the sick-fund being locked up, it was paid over to the pri-
vate account or "deposit' if the member, so that every de-
positor had hie share of the sick.fuod. (Hear, hear.) Then,
as to medical attendance. In most clubs there was a club
doctor, and if a sick member required medical attendance to
he paid for by the club be most have that doctor.
This was dieureeahle to many persons. Indeed
most persons liked their own doctor. This Society let
them have him. It had no club doctor. The sick
member might have the services of soy doctor who con-
sented to receive half-a-crown a visit. (le .r, hear.) At
70 years of ate old-age allowance might commeuce, and
all claims for sick pay ceased. In this case the member
could draw from the Society half the average sum to which,
for the preceding twelve months, he had been entitled ea daily
sick pay. provided that he could continue to pay hie month),
contribution of one-fourth. But what hapi vied In con
the member was not able to melte this contribution Toe
Society said to each of its no mbers, "ii you are • saving
man, and, though doing your hest, are unable to keep
up your contribution, you shall have twelve mouths' grace
in your old age aft r tour deposit ham become exhausted,
and all ailditioool twelve months' grace for every ten years
during which you have been a member of the Society ; you
shall iluring this time of grace receive your allowance less
the payment from your own deposit.' Again, there was a
similar grace to any sick member who had bsien a paying
member for twelve months previously, provided he had
reduced Ids deposit, except for sick and medical pay be.
Ice Hs own share of the twelve months' sick pay. The
rule in respect to grante in case of death was this :—The
member was obliged Co nominate, in a book kept for the
purpose, the relative to whom the money due to him
should be paid on his decease. To that person the whole of
the member's deposit, minus any deduction for necessary
expenses, would be paid over. It was f. mod that a funeral
ought nut to cost over £3, and this sum was at once paid over
to the relative for funeral expenses should the member have
had so much in his deposit. Should his deposit not amount
to £.3 a great would be made from the sick-fund to supply or
Make op £3. The committee of management was formed ot
working men, or of working men and honorary members, the
latter pitying 100. a year to the funds of the Society The
10a paid I.y honotary memburs might be spent by the dis-
trict committee in whatever way it thought proper. There
were district or village committees, and a county committee
nude up of the district oommit tees. The district nominated
its own chairman, who acted as delegate at all meetings of
the county committee. The county committee sera a dele-
gate to the general meeting. of the Society Women were
admitted ars members of the Society. He hoped Shot, from
what he had slid, the meeting would see that this Associa-
tion combined the advantages of a savings-bank anti a sick.
club. Believing that It did, he bekgni to five that "The
depmit principle possesses many great advalitues, and ad-
mits of exteusion. '

The Rev. Mr. Brancker, In seconding the resolution. raid
he thought it was a strong recommendation of the Society
that its rules forbade the transaction of any of its business
In a public/louse.
The resolution was adopted.
Mr flawkshaw said that, from the statement made by
Mr Portal, the Society was based on good principles. Be
bad also felt that it was the duty of a man who had to earn
an income to avail himself of a society which enabled him to
make provision for his family in case he should be cut off
before he could make that provision entirely out of his own
funds. It was forty years since he insured his life, and from
that time to the present he had gone on paying the yearly
premium. He moved:—
"That the committee take the necessary steps for the
formation of • branch of the National Deport Friendly
Society."

Mr. John V. LIN/bourne. in seconding the resolution.
exertion i his opinion that, financially, the National Deposit
Friendly Society had advantages not possessed by other
fdefl.iy societies.
On the motion of the Rev. W. Parson, a vote of thanks
was passed to Lord Selborne, and the imble and learned lord
bsistly rettuned thanks.